Amnesty 2017

2017, 21,703 asylum-seekers out of 66,400 had been relocated from Greece, and 11,464 outof around 35,000 from Italy. Among the worst offenders were Poland and Hungary, both having refused to accept a singleasylum-seeker from Italy and Greece by the year’s end. The European Court of Justice rejected Slovakia’s and Hungary’s complaint against themandatory refugee relocation scheme. The European Commission also opened infringementproceedings against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for failing to comply with theirrelocation obligations.CURTAILING ACCESS TO ASYLUM AND PUSHBACKSHungary reached a new low by passing legislation allowing pushbacks of all people found inan irregular situation in the country and by introducing the automatic detention of asylum-seekers, in blatant breach of EU law. The authorities locked up in containers asylum-seekersarriving at its borders. Hungary’s systematic flouting of the rights of refugees, asylum-seekersand migrants also included severely restricting access by limiting admission to two operationalborder “transit zones” in which only 10 new asylum applications could be submitted eachworking day. This left thousands of people in substandard camps in Serbia, at risk ofhomelessness and forcible return further south to Macedonia and Bulgaria. Abuses and pushbacks continued at the EU external borders, from Bulgaria, Greece, Spain,and Poland. Poland’s government proposed legislation to legalize pushbacks, a regularpractice at a crossing between Poland and Belarus. In a landmark ruling, the European Courtof Human Rights condemned Spain for breaching the prohibition of collective expulsions andfor violating the right to an effective remedy in the case of two migrants who were summarilyreturned from the Spanish enclave of Melilla to Morocco. Slovenia adopted legislative amendments under which it could deny entry to people arrivingat its borders and automatically expel migrants and refugees who entered irregularly, withoutassessing their asylum claims.FORCED RETURNSEU member states also continued to put pressure on other governments to acceptreadmissions – in some cases without including adequate guarantees against refoulement. At a time when civilian casualties in Afghanistan were at some of their highest levels onrecord, European governments forced increasing numbers of Afghan asylum-seekers back tothe dangers from which they fled in Afghanistan. Forced returns to Afghanistan were madefrom countries including Austria, the Netherlands and Norway.IMPUNITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE FORMERYUGOSLAVIAThe International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia delivered its final judgment on 29November 2017, bringing to a close its largely successful 23-year effort to hold perpetrators ofwar crimes to account. Also in November, it sentenced Bosnian Serb war leader Ratko Mladićto life imprisonment for crimes under international law, including genocide, war crimes, andcrimes against humanity. At the national level, with the exception of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which some modestprogress was made, impunity remained the norm, with courts continuing to have limitedcapacity and resources, and facing undue political pressure. Prosecutors across the regionlacked the support of the executive and their work was compromised by a climate ofnationalist rhetoric and lack of political commitment to sustained regional co-operation.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 51

By the end of the year, the authorities had made no progress in establishing the fate of over11,500 people disappeared during the armed conflicts in the Balkans. Victims of enforceddisappearance and their families continued to be denied access to justice, truth andreparation. Nominal improvements in the laws regulating reparation for victims of wartimesexual violence continued to be made in several countries.DISCRIMINATIONTHE “TRADITIONAL VALUES” PRETENCE IN EASTERN EUROPE AND IN CENTRALASIAGovernments across Eastern Europe and across Central Asia continued to prop up repressionand discrimination by promoting and increasingly invoking the rhetoric of a discriminatoryinterpretation of so-called “traditional values”. The “traditional values” referred to wereselective xenophobic, misogynistic and homophobic interpretations of cultural values. InTajikistan, this discourse and its application was used to punish LGBTI communities for“amoral” behaviours and enforce “norms” for dress code, language and religion primarilyagainst women and religious minorities, including through new legislation. In Kazakhstan andRussia, there was an increasing number of criminal prosecutions and other harassment ofreligious minorities, on arbitrary grounds, under “anti-extremism” legislation. The saidinterpretation assertion of “traditional values” reached a terrifying dimension with the secrettorture and killing of gay men in Chechnya by authorities.WOMEN’S RIGHTSFollowing sexual harassment allegations against US Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein andothers in the show business industry, millions of women worldwide used the online hashtag#MeToo to break the silence about their experiences as survivors of sexual violence. Thisbecame a rallying cry for challenging victim blaming and holding offenders to account. Theyear also saw the women’s and feminist movements mobilizing thousands – including duringJanuary’s Women’s Marches across Europe, and Black Monday protests in Poland thatsuccessfully pushed the government not to further restrict access to safe and legal abortion.Yet, throughout Europe and Central Asia, women and girls continued to experience systemichuman rights violations and abuses, including torture and other ill-treatment, denial of theright to health and bodily autonomy, inequality of opportunity, and widespread gender-basedviolence. Access to abortion remained criminalized in most circumstances in Ireland and NorthernIreland and severely restricted in practice. In Poland, there were systemic barriers in accessingsafe and legal abortion. Abortion remained criminalized in all circumstances in Malta. The EU and Moldova signed the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatingviolence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). It was ratified byCyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Norway and Switzerland – bringing to 28 the number ofstates to have done so. Ukraine signed it in 2011 but failed to ratify the Convention. Despite increasingly strong legislative protections, gender-based violence against womenremained pervasive, including in Albania, Croatia and Romania. In Russia, under the cover ofthe so-called “traditional values” narrative, and encountering little public criticism, theParliament adopted legislation decriminalizing some forms of domestic violencewhich President Putin signed into law. In Norway and Sweden, gender-based violence,including sexual violence, remained a serious problem with inadequate state response.52 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

MINORITY RIGHTSDiscrimination and stigmatization of minorities remained pervasive across Europe and CentralAsia with several groups facing harassment, violence, and obstacles to meaningfulparticipation in society. Discrimination against Roma remained widespread in Slovakia. The European Commissioncontinued an infringement procedure against Slovakia and Hungary for systematicdiscrimination and segregation of Roma children in schools. Segregated camps, discriminationin access to social housing and forced evictions remained a daily reality for thousands of the170,000 Roma estimated to be living across Italy, around 40,000 of them in camps in squalidconditions. The European Commission still failed to take effective action towards endingdiscrimination against Roma. Muslims faced discrimination, particularly when looking for work, at work, and whenaccessing public or private services such as education and health care. In Austria, a new law banned any kind of full-face covering in public spaces,disproportionately restricting the rights to freedom of expression and of religion or belief.Tajikistan’s authorities forced thousands of women to remove their Islamic headscarves(hijabs) in public places to comply with the law on traditions.RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER ANDINTERSEX PEOPLELGBTI people faced growing abuse and discrimination across the east, including violence,arbitrary arrests and detention. In Azerbaijan, over 100 LGBTI people were arbitrarily arrestedon one day in the capital Baku. In Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, consensual sex among menremained a crime punishable by prison. Georgia’s new Constitution restricted the definition ofmarriage to exclude same-sex couples. Lithuania’s Parliament adopted legislationdiscriminating against LGBTI people. In Russia, the “gay propaganda law” continued to beused, despite being ruled discriminatory by the European Court of Human Rights. Reports emerged in April that the Chechen authorities were secretly and arbitrarily detaining,torturing and killing gay men. In response to the international outcry, the authorities claimedthat gay men did not exist in Chechnya, while the federal authorities failed to carry out aneffective investigation. There were also positive developments and examples of human courage and solidarity. TheRussian LGBT Network organized a hotline and facilitated the evacuation to safety of LGBTIpeople from Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus. The biggest-ever Pride rally inUkraine was held. Malta’s parliament approved same-sex marriage legislation and extendedfull marriage rights to same-sex couples. Germany granted marriage rights to all, regardless oftheir gender or sexual orientation, and equal rights to adoption for married people.TRANSGENDER PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WITH VARIATIONS OF SEX CHARACTERISTICSTransgender people in Europe and Central Asia faced hurdles seeking legal recognition of theirgender identity. Children and adults with variations in sex characteristics continued to facehuman rights violations, perpetrated in the course of non-emergency, invasive and irreversiblemedical interventions which often had harmful consequences on physical and psychologicalhealth, especially for children. In 18 European countries, transgender people were required toundergo sterilization, and in 35 countries they had to receive a mental health diagnosis inorder to change their gender.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 53

There was progress in Belgium and Greece; they were the latest European countries toabolish sterilization and mental health diagnosis requirements, although legal genderrecognition reforms in both countries still fell short of establishing a quick, transparent andaccessible administrative procedure.54 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICAREGIONAL OVERVIEWJournalists and human rights defenders were targeted in government crackdowns, andonline expression was heavily controlled in several countries. Civil society activistsmanaged to halt further tightening of restrictions on free expression in some places.Freedom of religion and belief came under attack from armed groups and governmentsalike. The struggle of women’s rights movements successfully led to the amendment oflaws that had entrenched discrimination and violence against women in some countries.However, systematic discrimination remained in law and practice across the region andwomen were still inadequately protected against gender-based violence. Authoritiesarrested and prosecuted people for their real or perceived sexual orientation in somecountries, and consensual same-sex sexual relations were still criminalized in many, in ahandful of cases punishable by death. There were severe restrictions on trade unions insome countries, and migrant workers continued to face exploitation and abuse. However,reforms in a couple of countries gave migrant workers greater employment protections.Armed conflicts took a heavy toll on beleaguered civilians and were characterized byserious violations, including the use of banned weapons, unlawful sieges, and directattacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Death sentences were imposed in a numberof countries across the region, and hundreds of executions were carried out. Impunitypersisted for historical and recent crimes; however, some progress was made towardssecuring truth and justice for victims.FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION ANDASSEMBLYGovernments across the Middle East and North Africa repressed civil society both offline andonline in an attempt to prevent or punish reporting on human rights violations or othercriticism directed at them or their allies, often on the pretext that they were combating threatsto national security or corruption. They also used excessive force in an attempt to quell protestmovements that had taken to the streets.CRACKDOWNS IN EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIAIn some countries, increased clampdowns accompanied a global trend that saw politicalstrongmen attempting to establish their credentials in the eyes of the international community.In President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s Egypt, the authorities continued to curb the work of humanrights defenders in an unprecedented manner, shutting down or freezing the assets of NGOs;they enacted a draconian new law that gave them broad powers to dissolve NGOs andprovided for five years’ imprisonment for publishing research without government permission.The Egyptian authorities also sentenced at least 15 journalists to prison terms on chargesrelated solely to their writing, including publication of what the authorities deemed “falseinformation”; they blocked more than 400 websites, including those of independentnewspapers and human rights organizations. Meanwhile, security forces arrested hundreds ofindividuals based on their membership or perceived membership of the Muslim Brotherhood.To punish political dissidents, the authorities used prolonged pre-trial detention, often forAmnesty International Report 2017/18 55

periods of more than two years, placed those imprisoned in indefinite and prolonged solitaryconfinement, and subjected many of those released to probation periods in which they wereforced to spend up to 12 hours per day in a police station, amounting to arbitrary deprivationof liberty. Saudi Arabia witnessed the promotion of Mohammed bin Salman to the role of Crown Princein June as part of a broader re-engineering of the political landscape. In the months thatfollowed, the authorities intensified their crackdown on freedom of expression, detaining morethan 20 prominent religious figures, writers, journalists, academics and activists in one week inSeptember. They also put human rights defenders on trial on charges related to their peacefulactivism before the Specialized Criminal Court, a tribunal set up to try terrorism-related cases.At the end of the year, despite the image the palace wished to portray of a more tolerantcountry, the majority of Saudi Arabia’s human rights defenders were either in prison or facinggrossly unfair trials.ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSElsewhere, human rights advocacy and journalistic reporting, as well as criticism of officialinstitutions, led to prosecution and imprisonment and, in some cases, smear campaignsorchestrated by the government or its supporters. In Iran, the authorities jailed scores of peaceful critics including women’s rights activists,minority rights and environmental activists, trade unionists, lawyers, and those seeking truth,justice and reparation for the mass executions of the 1980s. In Bahrain, the government arbitrarily detained human rights defenders and governmentcritics and subjected others to travel bans or the stripping of their nationality, dissolved theindependent al-Wasat newspaper and the opposition political group Waad, maintained a banon demonstrations in the capital, Manama, and used unnecessary and excessive force todisperse protests elsewhere. In Morocco and Western Sahara, the authorities prosecuted and imprisoned a number ofjournalists, bloggers and activists who criticized officials or reported on human rights violations,corruption or popular protests, such as those that took place in the northern Rif region, wheresecurity forces conducted mass arrests of largely peaceful protesters, including children, andsometimes used excessive or unnecessary force. The Kuwaiti authorities imprisoned several government critics and online activists under legalprovisions that criminalized comments deemed offensive to the Emir or damaging to relationswith neighbouring states. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a number of journalists and online activists were subjected toarbitrary arrest, death threats and smear campaigns, a pattern that escalated in the run-up toan independence referendum in September called by the region’s president. In Yemen, the Huthi armed group arbitrarily arrested and detained critics, journalists andhuman rights defenders in the capital, Sana’a, and other areas they controlled. Meanwhile, the Israeli authorities banned entry into Israel or the Occupied PalestinianTerritories to individuals supporting or working for organizations that had issued or promoted astatement which the authorities deemed to be a call to boycott Israel or Israeli entities,including settlements, targeted both Palestinian and Israeli human rights NGOs throughharassment and campaigns to undermine their work, and deployed forces that used rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition against Palestinian protesters in the West Bank andGaza Strip, killing at least 20 and injuring thousands.ONLINE REPRESSIONGovernments other than Egypt also made efforts to increase their control of expression on theinternet. The State of Palestine adopted the Electronic Crimes Law in July, permitting the56 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

arbitrary detention of journalists, whistle-blowers and others who criticize the authorities online.The law allowed for prison sentences and up to 25 years’ hard labour for anyone deemed tohave disturbed “public order”, “national unity” or “social peace”. Several Palestinianjournalists and human rights defenders were charged under the law. Jordan continued to block access to certain websites, including online forums. Omanblocked the online publication of Mowaten newspaper, and the effect of trials against Azamnnewspaper and some of its journalists continued to reverberate following its publication in2016 of allegations of corruption in the government and the judiciary. In Iran, judicial officialsattempted to block the popular messaging application Telegram, but failed because ofopposition from the government; other popular social media websites including Facebook,Twitter and YouTube were still blocked.GULF POLITICAL CRISISThe political crisis in the Gulf triggered in June, when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed relations with Qatar and accused it of financing andharbouring terrorists and interfering in the domestic affairs of its neighbours, had an impactbeyond the paralysis of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAEannounced that they would treat criticism of the measures taken against Qatar, or sympathywith Qatar or its people, as a criminal offence, punishable by a prison term.CIVIL SOCIETY FIGHT-BACKCivil society did, however, make significant efforts to stem the tide of measures attempting torestrict freedom of expression. In Tunisia, activists put the brakes on a new bill that couldbolster impunity for security forces by criminalizing criticism of police conduct and grantingofficers immunity from prosecution for unnecessary use of lethal force. In Palestine, theauthorities agreed to amend the Electronic Crimes Law following huge pressure from civilsociety.FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEFABUSES BY ARMED GROUPSArmed groups targeted religious minorities in several countries. The armed group calling itselfIslamic State (IS) and other armed groups killed and injured scores of civilians across Iraq andSyria in suicide bombings and other deadly attacks that targeted Shi’a religious shrines andother public spaces in predominantly Shi’a neighbourhoods. The UN reported in January thatnearly 2,000 Yazidi women and children remained in IS captivity in Iraq and Syria. They wereenslaved and subjected to rape, beatings and other torture. In Egypt, IS claimed responsibilityfor the bombing of two churches which left at least 44 dead in April, and unidentified militantslaunched a bomb and gun attack at a mosque in North Sinai during Friday prayers inNovember, killing more than 300 Sufi Muslim worshippers – the deadliest attack by an armedgroup in Egypt since 2011. In Yemen, the Huthis and their allies subjected members of the Baha’i community toarbitrary arrest and detention.RESTRICTIONS BY GOVERNMENTSIn Algeria, the authorities were engaged in a new clampdown against the Ahmadi religiousmovement; during the year more than 280 Ahmadis were prosecuted because of theirreligious beliefs and practices.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 57

Elsewhere, government restrictions followed a familiar pattern. In Saudi Arabia, theauthorities discriminated against members of the Shi’a Muslim minority because of their faith,limiting their right to religious expression and their access to justice, and arbitrarily restrictingtheir right to work and access to state services. Shi’a activists continued to face arrest,imprisonment and – in some cases – the death penalty following unfair trials. In Iran, freedom of religion and belief was systematically violated, in law and practice.Widespread and systematic attacks continued to be carried out against the Baha’i religiousminority. These included arbitrary arrests, lengthy imprisonment, torture and other ill-treatment, forcible closure of Baha’i-owned businesses, confiscation of Baha’i properties, banson employment in the public sector and denial of access to universities. Other religiousminorities not recognized under the Constitution, such as Yaresan (Ahl-e Haq), also facedsystematic discrimination, including in education and employment, and were persecuted forpractising their faith. The right to change or renounce religious beliefs continued to be violated.A number of Christian converts received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years.WOMEN’S RIGHTSLong-term struggles by women’s rights movements resulted in some positive developmentsduring the year. Laws were amended in Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia to stop rapists escaping prosecution (orbenefiting from reduced penalties) if they married their victim. However, legislation in manyother countries retained such a loophole. Jordan also struck out a provision that allowedreduced sentences for men found guilty of killing a female relative in a “fit of rage caused byan unlawful or dangerous act on the part of the victim”, but kept one that granted leniency for“honour” killings of female relatives found in an “adulterous situation”. Tunisia’s parliamentadopted the Law on Eliminating Violence against Women, which brought in several guaranteesfor the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence, and its president repealed adecree prohibiting marriage between a Tunisian woman and a non-Muslim man. In Qatar, a draft law was approved to provide permanent residency rights for the children ofQatari women married to non-Qataris, but discrimination persisted, with women unable to passon their nationality and citizenship to their children. In Saudi Arabia, a royal order was issued in September allowing women to drive frommid-2018, although there were questions about how it would be implemented in practice. InApril, another royal order had instructed all government agencies that women should not bedenied access to government services if they did not have a male guardian’s consent, unlessexisting regulations required it. However, the order appeared to keep in place regulations thatexplicitly require a guardian’s approval, such as for women to travel abroad, obtain a passport,or marry. Despite the positive developments, entrenched discrimination against women in law and inpractice, notably in matters of marriage and divorce, inheritance and child custody, remainedin these and many other countries in the region. Women were inadequately protected againstsexual and other gender-based violence, as well as forced and early marriage.RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER ANDINTERSEX PEOPLEWhile sexual orientation and gender identity issues were increasingly on the agendas ofmainstream human rights movements in the region, governments continued to heavily limit theenjoyment of the rights of LGBTI people in law and practice.58 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

In Egypt, in the worst crackdown in over a decade, the authorities rounded up andprosecuted people for their perceived sexual orientation after a rainbow flag was displayed at aconcert in Cairo in September performed by Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila, who had beenbanned from playing in Jordan earlier in the year. Security forces arrested at least 76 peopleand subjected at least five to anal examinations, a practice which amounts to torture. Courtssentenced at least 48 people to prison terms of between three months and six years oncharges that included “habitual debauchery”. In October, parliamentarians proposed a deeplydiscriminatory law explicitly criminalizing same-sex sexual relations and any public promotionof LGBTI gatherings, symbols or flags. Countries including Morocco and Tunisia continued to arrest people and sentence them toterms of imprisonment under laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual relations. InTunisia, while the police subjected men accused of such relations to forced anal examinations,the government accepted a recommendation under the UN Universal Periodic Review processin September to end their use. Elsewhere, in countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia, someconsensual same-sex sexual conduct remained punishable by death.RIGHT TO WORKTRADE UNIONSSome governments heavily curtailed trade union rights. In Egypt, the authorities subjected dozens of workers and trade unionists to arrest, militarytrial, dismissal and a range of disciplinary measures solely for exercising their rights to strikeand to form independent trade unions. In December, parliament passed a law tripling thenumber of members (from 50 to 150) that independent trade unions need to obtain legalrecognition. In Algeria, the authorities continued to deny registration to the independent, cross-sectorGeneral Autonomous Confederation for Algerian Workers – it first filed its application in 2013 –and banned the National Autonomous Electricity and Gas Trade Union by withdrawing itsrecognition.MIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTSAcross the Gulf and in other countries such as Jordan and Lebanon, migrant workers,including those in the domestic, construction and other sectors, continued to face exploitationand abuse. However, there were some positive developments. In Qatar, the governmentpassed two new laws in August. One established a labour dispute mechanism, which couldaddress some of the barriers to migrant workers accessing justice. The other provided legalprotections for domestic workers’ labour rights for the first time, including paid holidays and alimit to working hours. However, the law was open to abuse of a provision allowing domesticworkers to work beyond the legal limit if they “agreed”. In October, the Qatari governmentannounced new reform plans, including a minimum wage and a fund to pay unpaid workers,and the International Labour Organization published details of a package it had agreed withQatar to reform the kafala sponsorship system, which prevents migrant workers from changingjobs or leaving the country without their employers’ permission. In the UAE, a law came into effect in September limiting working hours and providing paidleave and the right to retain personal documents.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 59

RIGHTS TO HOUSING, WATER AND HEALTHISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIESThe year marked the 50th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories andthe 10th anniversary of its illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities intensified theexpansion of settlements and related infrastructure across the West Bank, including EastJerusalem, and carried out a large number of demolitions of Palestinian property, forciblyevicting more than 660 people. Many of these demolitions were in Bedouin and herdingcommunities that the Israeli authorities planned to forcibly transfer. Israel’s air, land and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip continued the long-standing restrictionson the movement of people and goods, collectively punishing Gaza’s entire population ofapproximately 2 million inhabitants. Combined with Egypt’s almost total closure of the Rafahborder crossing, and the West Bank authorities’ punitive measures, Israel’s blockade triggereda humanitarian crisis with power cuts, reducing access to electricity to a few hours per day,affecting the supply of clean water and sanitation and reducing access to health services. Elsewhere in the region, Palestinian refugees, including many long-term residents, remainedsubject to discriminatory laws. In Lebanon, they continued to be excluded from many types ofwork, owning or inheriting property and from accessing public education and health services.WATER, SANITATION AND HEALTHCivil society raised a number of cases before the Lebanese judiciary related to violations of therights to health and clean water, including cases related to the sale of expired drugs in publichospitals and to waste mismanagement. In Tunisia, water shortages became acute. The government admitted it did not have anational strategy for water distribution, thereby making it impossible to ensure equitableaccess. Marginalized regions were disproportionately affected by water cuts, leading to localprotests throughout the year.COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITYSerious human rights violations accompanied counter-terrorism measures in several countries. In Egypt, where more than 100 members of the security forces were killed in attacks byarmed groups, mostly in North Sinai, the National Security Agency continued to forciblydisappear and extrajudicially execute individuals suspected of political violence. The Ministryof the Interior claimed that more than 100 individuals were shot dead in exchanges of fire withsecurity forces throughout the year. However, in many of these cases the people killed werealready in state custody after having been forcibly disappeared. Torture and other ill-treatmentremained routine in official places of detention and was systematic in detention centres run bythe National Security Agency. Hundreds were sentenced, including to death, after grosslyunfair mass trials. In Iraq, suspects prosecuted on terrorism-related charges were routinely denied the rights toadequate time and facilities to prepare a defence, to not incriminate themselves or confessguilt, and to question prosecution witnesses. Courts continued to admit into evidence“confessions” that were extracted under torture. Many of those convicted after these unfairand hasty trials were sentenced to death. Iraqi and Kurdish government forces and militiasalso carried out extrajudicial executions of men and boys suspected of being affiliated with IS. Complaints of torture in custody against defendants accused of national security-relatedoffences were reported in countries including Bahrain, Israel and Kuwait. In general, theallegations were not investigated. Saudi Arabia introduced a new counter-terrorism law that60 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

allowed for the death penalty for some crimes. In Tunisia, the government continued to restrictfreedom of movement through arbitrary and indefinite orders that confined hundreds to theirgovernorate of residence, justifying this as a measure to prevent Tunisians from travelling tojoin armed groups.DEATH PENALTYIran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia remained among the world’s most prolific users of the deathpenalty, carrying out hundreds of executions between them, many after unfair trials. In Iran,Amnesty International was able to confirm the execution of four individuals who were under 18at the time the crime was committed, but several executions of other juvenile offenders werepostponed at the last minute because of public campaigning. The Iranian authoritiescontinued to describe peaceful campaigning against the death penalty as “un-Islamic”, andharassed and imprisoned anti-death penalty activists. In Saudi Arabia, courts continued toimpose death sentences for drugs offences and for conduct that under international standardsshould not be criminalized, such as “sorcery” and “adultery”. In Iraq, the death penaltycontinued to be used as a tool of retribution in response to public outrage after attacks claimedby IS. Bahrain and Kuwait both resumed executions in January, the first since 2010 and 2013respectively; the death sentences had been imposed for murder. Egypt, Jordan, Libya and theHamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip also carried out executions. Except for Israeland Oman, all other countries in the region continued a long-standing practice of imposingdeath sentences but not implementing them.ARMED CONFLICTFuelled by the international arms trade, conflict in the region continued to blight the lives ofmillions of individuals, particularly in Yemen, Libya, Syria and Iraq. In each conflict, multipleparties committed war crimes and other serious violations of international law, includingindiscriminate attacks that killed and injured civilians, direct attacks against civilians or civilianinfrastructure. In Syria and Yemen, government and allied forces used internationally bannedweapons such as cluster munitions and, in the case of Syria, chemical weapons.YEMEN CONFLICTThe situation in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East and North Africa even beforethe outbreak of conflict in March 2015, became the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,according to the UN, with three quarters of its population of 28 million in need of help. Thecountry faced the biggest cholera epidemic in modern times, exacerbated by a lack of fuel forwater-pumping stations, and was on the verge of the world’s most severe famine for decades.The conflict has shattered the water, education and health systems. The Saudi Arabia-ledcoalition supporting the internationally recognized Yemeni government held up shipments offood, fuel and medicine. In November it cut off Yemen’s northern ports completely for morethan two weeks. The coalition’s air strikes hit funeral gatherings, schools, markets, residentialareas and civilian boats. Huthi rebel forces, allied with forces loyal to former president AliAbdullah Saleh until splits between them led to his killing in December, indiscriminatelyshelled civilian residential areas in Ta’iz city and fired artillery indiscriminately across theborder into Saudi Arabia, killing and injuring civilians.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 61

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO ISLAMIC STATEIn both Syria and Iraq, a US-led international coalition refocused its attention on combating IS,which was responsible for gross abuses. Hundreds of civilians were killed as a result. In Mosul,Iraq’s second city, IS forcibly displaced thousands of civilians into zones of active hostilities inan attempt to shield their own fighters, and deliberately killed civilians fleeing the fighting andhung their bodies in public areas as a warning to others. In the battle to drive IS out of westMosul, Iraqi and coalition forces launched a series of disproportionate or otherwiseindiscriminate attacks to devastating effect; hundreds of civilians were killed. Iraqi forcesconsistently used explosive weapons which affected a large area, such as improvised rocket-assisted munitions, which cannot be precisely targeted at military objectives or used lawfully indensely populated civilian areas. In Syria, IS lost control of Raqqa governorate following a military campaign by the SyrianDemocratic Forces, consisting of Syrian-Kurdish and Arab armed groups, and the US-ledcoalition. IS prevented residents from fleeing and used civilians as human shields, as well ascarrying out direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks, killing and injuring civilians.The coalition’s air strikes also caused hundreds of civilian casualties. Syrian governmentforces, supported by Iranian and Hezbollah fighters on the ground and Russian air power,captured other areas previously held by IS and other armed groups. In doing so, they killedand injured civilians in indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians and civilianobjects, including homes, hospitals and medical facilities.SIEGES AND DISPLACEMENT OF CIVILIANS IN SYRIAThe Syrian government continued to maintain lengthy sieges of predominantly civilian areas,depriving some 400,000 people of access to medical care, other basic goods and services andhumanitarian assistance, while subjecting them to repeated air strikes, artillery shelling andother attacks. Armed opposition groups were also responsible for besieging thousands ofcivilians and carrying out indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks on government-controlledneighbourhoods, killing and injuring civilians. Thousands of civilians experienced the harshimpact of forced displacement following “reconciliation” agreements in the second half of2016 and early 2017. They were only some of the 6.5 million people displaced within Syriabetween 2011 and 2017. More than half a million people fled Syria during the year, taking thetotal number of Syrian refugees to more than 5 million.KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQGovernment forces responded to the referendum on independence for the Kurdistan Region ofIraq by launching an operation that quickly retook the disputed city of Kirkuk, as well as mostof the territory captured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against IS. In October, tensof thousands of civilians were forced to flee their homes after fierce clashes erupted betweenIraqi government forces, supported by affiliated militias, and Peshmerga forces in the multi-ethnic city of Tuz Khurmatu; at least 11 civilians were killed in indiscriminate attacks.LAWLESSNESS IN LIBYAThree rival governments and hundreds of militias and armed groups continued to compete forpower and control over territory, lucrative trade routes and strategic military locations in Libya.Militias and armed groups carried out indiscriminate attacks in heavily populated areas leadingto deaths of civilians; executed captured fighters from rival groups; and abducted andunlawfully detained hundreds of people, including political and human rights activists,because of their origin, opinions, perceived political affiliations or perceived wealth. Up to20,000 refugees and migrants were held arbitrarily and indefinitely in overcrowded, unsanitarydetention centres and exposed to torture, forced labour, extortion and unlawful killings at the62 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

hands of the authorities and militias who ran the centres. The assistance provided by EUmember states, particularly Italy, to the Libyan Coast Guard and migrant detention centresmade them complicit in the abuses.IMPUNITYImpunity for grave violations of the past remained a live concern. Victims of crimes committed in recent and ongoing conflicts generally faced entrenchedimpunity at a national level. In Iraq, the authorities announced investigations in response tosome allegations of serious violations committed by Iraqi forces and pro-government militias –such as torture, extrajudicial execution and enforced disappearance. However, theyconsistently failed to make any findings public. In Libya, the judicial system was hamstrung byits own dysfunctionality, with magistrates often failing to pursue accountability for abusesbecause of fears of reprisal. In Syria, the judicial system lacked independence, and failed toinvestigate and prosecute crimes by state forces. In Yemen, the National Commission toInvestigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights, established by the government, failed toconduct investigations consistent with international standards into alleged violations committedby all parties to the conflict in Yemen.SLOW PROGRESSThe region’s only ongoing national transitional justice mechanism, Tunisia’s Truth and DignityCommission – mandated to address human rights violations committed between July 1955and December 2013 – held 11 public sessions during which victims and perpetrators testifiedon a range of violations including election fraud, enforced disappearance and torture.However, there was no progress on an agreement to refer cases to specialized judicialchambers, and security agencies continued to fail to provide the Commission with theinformation it requested for its investigations. At the international level, some significant initiatives continued but moved slowly. The Officeof the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court continued its preliminary examination ofalleged crimes under international law committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since13 June 2014, including during the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict. In Libya, it broadened itsinvestigations from political and military leaders to consider the wider systematic mistreatmentof migrants. Other initiatives had positive aspects, but were tarnished or undermined. The UN SecurityCouncil passed a resolution in September that was aimed at ensuring accountability for warcrimes and human rights abuses committed by IS in Iraq, but crucially failed to include anyprovisions to ensure accountability for crimes committed by Iraqi forces, militias and the US-led coalition. The Joint Investigative Mechanism of the UN and the Organisation for theProhibition of Chemical Weapons made progress on determining accountability for chemicalweapons use in Syria, but an extension of its mandate was vetoed by Russia at the SecurityCouncil. Two developments raised particular hope in the longer term for truth and justice for victims ofviolations in two seemingly intractable ongoing conflicts. The International Impartial andIndependent Mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of the most seriouscrimes under international law committed in Syria since March 2011 took shape during theyear after its formal establishment in December 2016 by the UN General Assembly. And theUN Human Rights Council passed a resolution in September to establish a panel of experts toinvestigate abuses by all parties in Yemen. Both developments followed concerted advocacy byhuman rights organizations.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 63



 AMNESTY  INTERNATIONAL  REPORT 2017/18 PART 2: A-Z COUNTRY ENTRIES

AFGHANISTAN By the end of June, UNAMA had documented 12 incidents of cross-borderIslamic Republic of Afghanistan shelling from Pakistan into Afghanistan, inHead of state and government: Muhammad Ashraf which at least 10 civilians were killed and 24Ghani injured. This was a substantial increase on the same period in 2016.The civilian population suffered widespreadhuman rights abuses as a result of the The government made amendments to thecontinuing conflict. Conflict-related Penal Code. Some provisions of the Romeviolence led to deaths, injuries and Statute of the ICC were incorporated into lawdisplacement. Civilian casualties continued and some offences which previously carriedto be high; the majority were killed or the death penalty became punishable by lifeinjured by armed insurgent groups, but a imprisonment.significant minority by pro-governmentforces. The number of people internally ARMED CONFLICTdisplaced by conflict rose to more than 2million; about 2.6 million Afghan refugees The non-international armed conflict betweenlived outside the country. Gender-based “anti-government elements” and pro-violence against women and girls persisted government forces continued. The Talibanby state and non-state actors. An increase and the armed group Islamic State (IS) werein public punishments of women by armed among the “anti-government elements” butgroups applying Shari’a law was reported. more than 20 armed groups operated insideHuman rights defenders received threats the country. The Taliban and other armedfrom both state and non-state actors; opposition groups were responsible for thejournalists faced violence and censorship. majority of civilian casualties (64%) in theDeath sentences continued to be imposed; first nine months of the year, according tofive people were executed in November. UNAMA.Members of the Hazara minority group andShi’a continued to face harassment and By the end of September, UNAMA hadincreased attacks, mainly by armed documented 8,019 civilian casualties (2,640insurgent groups. killed and 5,379 injured), a small overall decrease compared to the same period inBACKGROUND 2016, although there was a 13% increase in the number of women killed or injured. AboutIn March, the UN Security Council renewed 20% of the casualties were attributed to pro-the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in government forces, including Afghan nationalAfghanistan (UNAMA) for another year, security forces, the Afghan Local Police, pro-under the leadership of Tadamichi government armed groups and internationalYamamoto. military forces. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the While acknowledging that Afghancountry’s second largest insurgent group, government forces made some efforts toHezb-i-Islami, joined the Afghan government. mitigate civilian casualties, especially duringOn 4 May, after two years of negotiations, the ground engagement, UNAMA also noted thatdraft peace agreement signed in September the number of civilians killed or injured in2016 between the government and aerial attacks increased by some 50% overGulbuddin Hekmatyar was finalized, granting 2016; about two-thirds of these were womenhim amnesty for past offences, including war and children.crimes, and permitting the release of certain ABUSES BY PRO-GOVERNMENT FORCESHezb-i-Islami prisoners. In January, according to UNAMA, Afghan National Border Police in Paktika province sexually abused a 13-year-old boy, then shot him; the boy died from his injuries. Those suspected of criminal responsibility were66 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

prosecuted by the Afghan National Police, On 25 August, a Shi’a mosque in Kabul wasconvicted of murder and sentenced to six attacked by IS, killing at least 28 people andyears‘ imprisonment. injuring dozens more. On 20 October, similar attacks were carried out against two more According to UNAMA, more than a dozen Shi’a mosques – one in western Kabul andcivilians were shot at checkpoints. In one the other in Ghor province – leaving moresuch incident on 16 March, Afghan Local than 60 people dead and dozens injured.Police at a checkpoint in Jawzjan provinceshot and injured a man and his mother after VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLSmistaking them for insurgents. In April,Afghan National Police shot a 65-year-old The Ministry of Women’s Affairs ofman returning from feeding his cows; he later Afghanistan (MoWA) reported an increase indied in hospital. In May, an Afghan National cases of gender-based violence againstArmy soldier shot dead a 13-year-old boy as women, especially in areas under Talibanhe collected grass close to a checkpoint in control.Badghis province. In the first half of the year, the Afghanistan In June, according to UNAMA, three young Independent Human Rights Commissionchildren in Saydebad district were killed in reported thousands of cases of violencetheir home by a mortar round fired by the against women and girls across the country,Afghan National Army. The same month, pro- including beatings, killings and acid attacks.government forces on patrol shot dead a Against the backdrop of impunity for suchfather and his two young sons (aged five and crimes and a failure to investigate, cases of12) outside the brick factory where they violence against women remained grosslyworked; there was no known military activity under-reported due to traditional practices,in the area at the time. UNAMA requested stigmatization and fear of the consequencesupdates on any investigation or follow-up for the victims.action on these cases, but by July hadreceived no information from the Ministry of Armed groups perpetrated gender-basedthe Interior. violence, torture and other ill-treatment and other human rights abuses, imposing During the first six months of the year, corporal punishments on women for havingaccording to UNAMA, 95 civilians, half of sex outside of marriage or engaging in sexthem children, were killed in air strikes. work. In one instance, according to UNAMA,ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS men severely beat a woman in her home inIn January, in Badakhshan province, five Darah-i-Suf Payin district, Samanganarmed men dragged a pregnant woman from province, after accusing her of having sexher home and shot her dead in front of her outside of marriage and engaging in sexhusband and six children; witnesses said her work.attackers accused her of being a governmentsupporter. On 8 March, armed men entered UNAMA also noted that armed groups triedan Afghan National Army military hospital in to restrict girls’ access to education. Incentral Kabul and killed at least 49 people, February, threats forced the closure of girls’including patients. In August, armed groups schools in several villages in Farah province,attacked the village of Mirza Olang, in Sar-e- temporarily denying education to more thanPul province, killing at least 36 people, 3,500 girls. When the schools reopened 10including civilians. days later, the vast majority of the girls were initially afraid to return. Suicide attacks by armed groups in civilianareas caused at least 382 deaths and 1,202 The head of the women’s affairs departmentinjuries. In one such attack in December, at in Badakhshan reported that in March theleast 41 people, including children, were Taliban stoned a woman to death andkilled in a suicide bomb attack on a Shi’a whipped a man on charges of having sexcultural organization in Kabul. outside of marriage in Wardoj district, northeastern Badakhshan province.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 67

In August, a woman named Azadeh was more than 150 people. No investigationsshot dead by Taliban members in Jawzjan appeared to have been conducted into theprovince. According to the governor’s police shootings. Relatives of the victimsspokesman, the woman had fled some subsequently staged a sit-in for several weeksmonths earlier to a safe house in Sheberghan in Kabul, which the police broke up by force.city due to domestic violence. She returned One person was killed and at least five othersafter local mediation, but was then dragged were reported to have been arbitrarilyfrom her house and shot by Taliban detained in a private house and questionedmembers. by plain-clothes officers before being released the next day. In July, theREFUGEES AND INTERNALLY government proposed amendments to theDISPLACED PEOPLE laws on associations, strikes and demonstrations, which would limit the rightsSome 2.6 million Afghan refugees were living to freedom of association and expression byin more than 70 countries around the world introducing new restrictions on theduring 2017. Around 95% were hosted in organization of demonstrations and strikes.just two countries, Iran and Pakistan, where The proposed amendments would also givethey faced discrimination, racial attacks, lack police enhanced authority to stop or preventof basic amenities and the risk of mass demonstrations or strikes, furtherdeportation. undermining the right to peaceful assembly. Between 2002 and 2017, more than 5.8 Women human rights defenders continuedmillion Afghans were returned home, many of to face threats and intimidation by both statethem involuntarily by other governments. and non-state actors across Afghanistan. Most cases were not reported to police The UN Office for the Coordination of because of lack of trust in the securityHumanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that some agencies, which consistently failed to437,907 people were displaced by the investigate and address these threats. Someconflict in 2017 alone, bringing the total who did report threats were not given supportnumber of internally displaced people (IDPs) or protection.to more than 2 million. Despite the promisesmade by successive Afghan governments, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONIDPs continued to lack adequate housing,food, water, health care and opportunities to A string of violent attacks and intimidationpursue education and employment. Most against journalists, including killings, furtherwere forced to make long daily trips to fetch underlined the steady erosion of freedom ofwater and struggled to obtain one daily meal. expression.Most IDPs lacked access to basic health carefacilities. Private health care was Media freedom watchdog Nai reported moreunaffordable for most IDPs, and mobile than 150 attacks against journalists, mediaclinics, operated by NGOs or the government, workers and media offices during the year.were only available sporadically. These included killings, beatings, detention, arson, attacks, threats and other forms of IDPs also faced repeated threats of forced violence by both state and non-state actors.eviction from both government and privateactors. In March, a reporter working for Ariana TV in Sar-e-Pul province was beaten by policeHUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS after trying to report on excessive use of force against civilians. Officers seized the reporter’sHuman rights defenders faced constant camera and other equipment; he soughtthreats to their life and security. In June, at refuge in the governor’s office.least four people were killed when policeopened fire on demonstrators protesting In August, a prominent reporter from Zabuldeteriorating security conditions in Kabul province received death threats from Talibanfollowing a 31 May truck bombing that killed members, followed by attempts on his life.68 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Security officials made little effort to protect DEATH PENALTYhim after he reported the incidents, and heleft the province for his safety. In a revision to the Penal Code, life imprisonment replaced the death penalty for In November, IS fighters attacked some offences.Shamshad TV’s station in Kabul; one staffmember was killed and others wounded. Five executions were carried out in November at Pul-e-Charki prison in Kabul. Nai reported that in 2016 it had submitted The Ministry of the Interior said that the fiveto the authorities at least 240 cases of had been convicted in 2016 of murder andviolence against media workers, including kidnapping, and that they had been executedreporters and journalists. One year later the despite their sentences being under reviewgovernment had taken no action in response by three appeal courts.and no one had been brought to justice. ALBANIATORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Republic of AlbaniaAfghans across the country remained at risk Head of state: Ilir Meta (replaced Bujar Nishani in July)of torture and other ill-treatment, with little Head of government: Edi Ramaprogress towards curbing impunity. The UNCommittee against Torture found Impunity persisted for past killings and“widespread acceptance and legitimation of enforced disappearances. Measurestorture in Afghan society”. protecting women from domestic violence were inadequately implemented. Women Many of those suspected of criminal and children were trafficked for forcedresponsibility continued to hold official prostitution and labour. Albania’s path toexecutive positions, including in government. EU membership was hindered by slowThe Committee also found that detainees progress in combating corruption andheld by the National Directorate of Security, organized crime.the Afghan National Police and the AfghanLocal Police were subject to “beatings, BACKGROUNDelectric shocks, suspensions, threats, sexualabuse, and other forms of mental and A political crisis preceded elections in June.physical abuse”. UNAMA and OHCHR The opposition Democratic Party, whichinvestigators who had interviewed 469 organized street protests in February,detainees said that 39% of them gave boycotted the election process until May,credible accounts of torture and other ill- when an EU and US-supported agreementtreatment during their arrest and promised them representation in governmentinterrogation. and state agencies. The ruling Socialist Party was returned with an increased majority. In March the government enacted an Anti- International observers reported incidents ofTorture Law, which criminalized torture but voter intimidation and alleged vote-buying.did not provide for restitution orcompensation to victims. Under a new mechanism established in January, by August 183 people, including Armed groups including the Taliban author Ismail Kadare, applied to accesscontinued to commit crimes under secret police files held on them during theinternational law, including killings, torture Communist period. In September, theand other abuses as punishment for International Commission on Missing Personsperceived crimes or offences. The executions agreed to assist with the identification ofand severe punishments imposed by the bodies recovered from mass graves from theparallel justice system amounted to criminal same period.acts under the law, and in somecircumstances could amount to war crimes.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 69

JUSTICE SYSTEM RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEMeasures to ensure judicial independencewere partially implemented. In June, two In February two NGOs filed a complaint withjudicial associations appealed to the the European Court of Human Rights,Constitutional Court against a vetting law, requesting an amendment to the Familywhich sought to ensure judges’ and Code which prohibits cohabitation rights forprosecutors’ independence from organized same-sex couples. An August survey foundcrime. widespread discrimination in employment in both the public and private sectors.IMPUNITY MIGRANTS’ RIGHTSIn a case brought before the European Courtof Human Rights, in April the government In May, a UK court found that hundreds ofagreed to reopen proceedings in the case of lesbian and gay people, trafficking victimsfour protesters killed during January 2011 and domestic violence survivors may havedemonstrations. A total payment of just over been wrongly deported to Albania since 2011EUR100,000 as a form of compensation was because UK courts had relied on incorrectdivided between relatives of two of the guidance. Some 4,421 Albanian asylum-victims. seekers voluntarily returned from EU countries; 2,500 rejected asylum-seekersENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES were deported from Germany.No measures were taken to locate the body Unaccompanied minors and families withof Remzi Hoxha, a Macedonian Albanian who children were sometimes detained in thewas forcibly disappeared by National Irregular Foreigners Centre at Karreç, aIntelligence Service officials in 1995. No closed centre for irregular migrants due forprogress was reported towards the deportation.exhumation of the remains of around 6,000people who had disappeared between 1945 ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURALand 1991. RIGHTSFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION − In September, 20 children’s NGOs protestedJOURNALISTS against the abolition of the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry, which threatened to putPhysical attacks against investigative social services at risk.journalists were perpetrated by organizedcriminals, or owners of private companies. In The Ministry of Urban DevelopmentMarch, journalist Elvi Fundo was beaten in reconstructed 300 Roma and Egyptianthe capital, Tirana, by assailants believed to houses, and improved sanitation. However,be associated with organized crime. In June, most Roma lacked clean water and manyTV channel owner Erven Hyseni was shot were at risk of forced evictions.dead in Vlora, along with a governmentofficial. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS In July, journalists claimed that defamation Reports of domestic violence increased; 420proceedings brought against two media immediate protection orders had been issuedoutlets by High Court Judge Gjin Gjoni and by 1 June. In August, Judge Fildeze Hafizihis wife, businesswoman Elona Caushi, was shot and killed in her car by her formeraimed to intimidate investigative journalists husband. She had been granted a protectionand encourage self-censorship. order in 2015 after he had beaten her. He was convicted and imprisoned in April 2016, but released in early 2017 under a general amnesty.70 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

ALGERIA FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND ASSEMBLYPeople’s Democratic Republic of AlgeriaHead of state: Abdelaziz BouteflikaHead of The authorities continued to arrest andgovernment: Ahmed Ouyahia (replaced Abdelmadjid prosecute peaceful activists, including thoseTebboune in August, who replaced Abdelmalek Sellal in protesting about unemployment and publicMay) services. Those protesting in solidarity with detained activists, as well as journalists andThe authorities continued to arbitrarily bloggers covering protests on social media,detain peaceful demonstrators, human were also detained.rights defenders, activists and journalists.Associations continued to face undue In January, police arrested renownedrestrictions, and legislation that restricted blogger Merzoug Touati in Bejaia, Kabyliathe right to form trade unions remained in region, following anti-austerity protests inplace. Members of the Ahmadi Muslim Kabylia. The authorities kept him in detentionreligious minority group were unjustly while investigating him for interviewing anprosecuted. Impunity for past abuses Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesmanprevailed. Migrants faced mass expulsions. on his blog, and for posts about the protests.Courts handed down death sentences; noexecutions were carried out. In June, police arrested journalist Said Chitour on suspicion of espionage and sellingBACKGROUND classified documents to foreign diplomats. In November his case was transferred to theIn January, new austerity measures Penal Court.announced by the government triggeredprotests and strikes, particularly in the The authorities maintained a protest ban innorthern Kabylia and Chaouia regions. In Algiers under a decree from 2001.February, a presidential decree establishedAlgeria’s new national human rights FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATIONinstitution, the National Human RightsCouncil, replacing the National Consultative The authorities kept many associations,Commission for the Promotion and Protection including Amnesty International Algeria andof Human Rights. In May, Algeria was other human rights groups, in legal limbo byexamined under the UN UPR process for the failing to respond to registration applicationsthird time.1 Also in May, legislative elections under the highly restrictive Associations Law.characterized by low participation brought Local authorities denied authorization to thelimited change to party representation in Algerian League for the Defence of Humanparliament and Abdelmadjid Tebboune briefly Rights (LADDH) to hold a human rightsbecame Prime Minister after a government meeting in October and a public eventreshuffle, before Ahmed Ouyahia replaced celebrating the Universal Declaration ofhim in August. Human Rights in December. The government had yet to produce a new draft law respecting Low-level sporadic clashes took place freedom of association, as required by thebetween security forces and armed constitutional amendments of 2016.opposition groups in several areas. In August,a suicide bomber killed himself and two HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSpolicemen in an attack on a police station inTiaret, west of the capital Algiers, which was Human rights defender Hassan Bouras waslater claimed by both the armed group released in January after a court reduced hisIslamic State (IS) and al-Qa’ida in the Islamic one-year prison term to a six-monthMaghreb (AQIM). suspended sentence. Police had arrested him for posting a video on the YouTube channel of the El Bayadh branch of LADDH alleging corruption among high-ranking officials in the city of El Bayadh.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 71

In March, a court in Ghardaia referred practices during the year.3 From Aprilhuman rights lawyer Salah Dabouz of LADDH onwards, courts released 16 Ahmadis afterto trial in relation to comments he made on reducing or suspending their sentences,television about unrest in Ghardaia and for while dozens of others remained underallegedly carrying a computer and camera investigation or on trial and five remained induring a visit to detained activists. The court detention. In August, authorities rearrestedhad kept him under judicial supervision from Mohamed Fali, head of the AhmadiJuly 2016 until March 2017, forcing him to community in Algeria, in Ain Safra, Naamatravel more than 600km twice a week to province, before trying him before the Ainreport to the court in Ghardaia from his home Tedles Court of First Instance for collectingin Algiers. donations without a licence, “denigrating Islamic dogma”, and “membership of an In April, the investigative judge at a court in unauthorized association”. By the end of theMedea transferred a case against human year, he faced six cases pending beforerights lawyer Noureddine Ahmine of the different courts arising from the peacefulNetwork of Lawyers for the Defence of practice of his faith.Human Rights (RADDH) to a court inGhardaia for trial on charges of “insulting a IMPUNITYpublic institution” and “falsely” reporting anoffence. The charges related to a complaint The authorities took no steps to openof torture that he had filed, apparently on investigations and counter the impunity forbehalf of someone else, in 2014. grave human rights abuses and possible crimes against humanity, including unlawfulUNFAIR TRIALS killings, enforced disappearances, rape and other forms of torture committed by securityIn May, a court in Medea unfairly convicted forces and armed groups in the 1990s duringthe founder of the Movement for the Algeria’s internal conflict, which left anAutonomy of the Mzab (MAM), Kamaleddine estimated 200,000 people killed or forciblyFekhar, and 21 of his 41 co-defendants of disappeared.murder, terrorism and other serious offences,for their alleged role in communal violence in In January, the Swiss judiciary shelved aGhardaia province between 2013 and 2015 war crimes investigation against retiredwhich left an estimated 25 people dead.2 Algerian Minister of Defence Khaled NezzarThey were sentenced to prison terms of for events between 1992 and 1994 inbetween three and five years, partially Algeria, citing inadmissibility due to thesuspended. All were then released between absence of armed conflict in Algeria at theMay and July 2017 after having served their time.sentence. Among the 41 defendants, 37 hadbeen in pre-trial detention, many since 2015. In February, the UN Human Rights Committee found that the Algerian authorities In July, the Spanish authorities detained had violated the right to remedy, the right toMAM activists Salah Abbouna and Khodir life, and the prohibition against torture withSekkouti after Algerian authorities filed an regard to Mohamed Belamrania, who wasextradition request against them, citing their forcibly disappeared and extrajudiciallycriticism of Algerian authorities on Facebook. executed in 1995. Days after the UN findingIn October the Spanish authorities released was published, police detained his son, Rafikboth activists on bail awaiting the National Belamrania, and charged him withHigh Court’s decision on extradition. “advocating terrorism on Facebook”. He had filed his father’s case before the UN bodyFREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF and documented other cases of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention andMore than 280 members of the minority extrajudicial executions by Algeria’s securityAhmadi religious movement were prosecuted forces against suspected supporters of thein relation to their religious beliefs and72 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party during the DEATH PENALTY1990s. In November he was sentenced tofive years’ imprisonment and fined 100,000 Courts continued to impose death sentences.Algerian dinars (around USD870). No executions have been carried out since 1993.REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS 1. Human Rights Council adopts Universal Periodic Review outcome on Algeria (MDE 28/7152/2017)From April to June, a group of 25 Syrianrefugees, including 10 children, were 2. Algeria: Ensure fair trial for minority rights activists (News story, 29stranded in the buffer zone of Morocco’s May)desert border area with Algeria.4 In June, theAlgerian authorities announced they would 3. Algeria: Wave of arrests and prosecutions of hundreds of Ahmadispermit them to enter Algeria and would allow (News story, 19 June)UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to providethem with assistance. However, the Algerian 4. Morocco: Syrian refugees trapped in desert on Moroccan border withauthorities later refused to let them in Algeria in dire need of assistance (News story, 7 June)through an unofficial crossing point. Therefugees remained stranded in the desert 5. Algeria: Mass racial profiling used to deport more than 2,000 sub-until Morocco granted them protection. Saharan migrants (News story, 23 October) Between August and December the ANGOLAauthorities arbitrary arrested and forciblyexpelled more than 6,500 sub-Saharan Republic of AngolaAfrican migrants to neighbouring Niger and Head of state and government: João Manuel GonçalvesMali on the basis of racial profiling.5 Lourenço (replaced José Eduardo dos Santos in September) In February, a court in Annaba convicted 27people, including Algerians, for irregular exit Agri-business mega projects displacedfrom Algeria after they attempted to leave the communities from their land. Although thecountry by boat. They were fined 20,000 restrictive NGO law was repealed, the spaceAlgerian dinars (about USD180) each. for individuals to exercise their civil and political rights continued to shrink.WORKERS’ RIGHTS Peaceful protesters were met with violent repression; government critics facedThe Labour Code continued to unduly restrict criminal defamation suits. Attempts bythe right to form trade unions by limiting Parliament to criminalize abortion in alltrade union federations and confederations to circumstances were defeated.single occupational sectors; allowing onlyAlgerian-born people or those who had held BACKGROUNDAlgerian nationality for a minimum of 10years to create trade union organizations; and Historic elections were held on 23 August.imposing restrictions on foreign funding for João Lourenço of the ruling People’strade unions. Authorities continued to deny Movement for the Liberation of Angolaregistration to the independent, cross-sector (MPLA) became President. According to theGeneral Autonomous Confederation for Electoral Commission, the MPLA obtainedAlgerian Workers, since it first filed its 61% of the vote, down from 81% in 2012.application in 2013. Opposition parties – National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), In May, the Ministry of Labour banned the Broad Convergence for the Salvation ofNational Autonomous Electricity and Gas Angola-Electoral Coalition (CASA-CE), andTrade Union by withdrawing its recognition. A National Front for the Liberation of Angolagovernment official publicly denied the ban (FNLA) − contended that the election resultsduring an International Labour Conference were illegitimate, but took their seats insession in June. Parliament.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 73

The continuing economic crisis precipitated and hindrance of the free flow of ideas andpopular discontent with the MPLA. Because opinions.of the economic crisis, the governmentadopted a development model for agri- The majority of the regulatory body’sbusiness mega projects, large-scale land members were nominated by MPLA, theacquisition, and dispossession of rural party with the most seats in the Nationalcommunities, which put community Assembly, which caused concerns as to thelivelihoods at risk. body’s independence and impartiality. Political intolerance was increasingly On 20 June, Rafael Marques de Morais,normalized due, in part, to government investigative journalist and editor of the onlineindifference to sectarian violence in Monte publication Maka Angola, and Mariano BrásBelo in Benguela province. Following the Lourenço, journalist and editor for O Crimesigning in 2002 of the peace agreement newspaper, were charged with “defamationbetween the government and UNITA, the of a public authority” and causing “outrage toarea became an enclave of political conflict a sovereign body” in relation to an article theywith increasing polarization of and violence published questioning the acquisition ofbetween MPLA and UNITA supporters. public land by the General Public Prosecutor.Monte Belo residents continued to sufferpersecution, violence, death threats, FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYintimidation and looting on grounds ofsuspected allegiance to one or other of the The authorities frequently refused to allowpolitical parties. Despite public objections peaceful demonstrations to take place, evenfrom civil society, the government allowed a though prior authorization was not required inculture of impunity and violent political law. When demonstrations did take place,intolerance to develop. police often arbitrarily arrested, detained and ill-treated peaceful protesters. However, noFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION investigations were initiated into the police actions.To silence critics, particularly journalists andacademics, the authorities used defamation On 24 February, police violently repressedlaws among others, restricting freedom of two peaceful protests by the Angolanexpression and access to information. The Revolutionary Movement taking placemisuse of the justice system and other state simultaneously in Luanda, the capital, andinstitutions in order to silence critics Benguela. The protesters demanded theremained commonplace. The “Press Law resignation of Bornito de Sousa, Minister ofPack” of five bills was passed by Parliament Territorial Administration, who was in chargein January; it included Press Law, Journalist’s of electoral registration for the AugustStatute, Radio Broadcasting Law, Television election and was also the MPLA’s vice-Law and Social Communications Regulatory presidential candidate; these roles were seenBody Law. as amounting to a conflict of interests and to a violation of the electoral law. After The laws contained provisions that handcuffing and forcing the protesters to lierestricted freedom of expression, particularly down, the police beat them with batons.press freedoms, through a series ofprohibitive regulations on social On 24 June, security forces violentlycommunication and by establishing a dispersed a peaceful demonstrationcommunications regulatory body with organized by the Lunda-Tchokweoversight competencies, including the power Protectorate Movement, which campaignedto determine whether or not a given for autonomy for the eastern andcommunication met good journalistic southeastern regions in Lunda Nortepractices; this amounted to prior censorship province. Security forces used live ammunition against demonstrators, killing a bystander, and injuring 13 protesters. They arrested 70 people; on 28 June, they were74 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

sentenced each to 45 days’ imprisonment SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTSand a fine of 22,000 kwanzas (USD135).Those who paid the fines had their sentences In March, the government proposed ansuspended and were released immediately amendment to legislation under the Penalwhile the others served their full prison terms. Code which would de-criminalize abortion inThe protesters were calling for, among other cases where a woman’s pregnancy was thethings, an end to persecution and arbitrary result of rape, or when the pregnant woman’simprisonment of their members, and for the health was at risk. Parliament rejected therelease of political prisoners in Kakanda proposal. The final parliamentary vote on thePrison in Lunda Norte. legislation was scheduled for later the same month, but was postponed indefinitelyFREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION following a public outcry against Parliament’s rejection of the government’s proposal toRepression of the right to freedom of liberalize the abortion laws.association persisted. The space in whichhuman rights defenders, political activists, LAND DISPUTESjournalists, broadcasters and civil societyorganizations could exercise their civil and Ongoing land acquisition for business, mainlypolitical rights was increasingly restricted. On in southern Cunene and Huíla provinces,11 July, however, the Constitutional Court continued to devastate local communitiesstruck down the NGO law which had who relied on the land for their livelihoods.been passed by presidential decree No.74/15 in 2015. The law had restricted the In April and May, the government of Huílalegal framework within which NGOs could presented its Transhumance Project, whichoperate, and empowered the Public included plans to appropriate a waterProsecutor’s Office to suspend national and fountain used by the community of Capela deinternational NGO activities on suspicion of Santo António in the Kahila area of Gambosmoney laundering, or illegal or harmful acts municipality. Capela de Santo António isagainst “Angola’s sovereignty and integrity”. home to 600 families who depended on theThe decree imposed burdens on civil society fountain for drinking water, and for theirorganizations, including excessive livestock and irrigation. The community wasrequirements and unwieldly procedures for not consulted over the plans and theNGO registration; excessive control over NGO authorities did not conduct an environmentalactivities; funding restrictions and sanctions. impact assessment. The government of Huíla remained determined to evict the communityUNFAIR TRIALS in violation of the Constitution and laws including the Land Law and theOn 25 September, six people, five of whom Environmental Law.had been held in prolonged pre-trialdetention for one year, were brought to trial In June, it came to light that the Angolanbefore Luanda Provincial Court on charges of government had authorized the Agro-“organizing terrorism”. However, the trial was Industrial Horizonte 2020 mega project toadjourned the same day when the Public appropriate 76,000 hectares of fertile landProsecutor failed to appear in court alleging without the free, prior and informed consenthealth reasons. The Court granted the of the affected communities. The land is insubstitute prosecutor’s plea to be allowed the west of Ombadja municipality and themore time so that he could familiarize himself south of Curoca municipality, both in Cunenewith the case. Five of the accused remained province. It is home to 39 communities ofin detention while a sixth, the wife of one of 2,129 families with 10,675 children who livethe detained, remained under house arrest at by the Cunene River. They have historicallythe end of the year. relied on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods. By the end of the year, vegetation on 15,000 hectares had been destroyed, including trees used for food and firewood,Amnesty International Report 2017/18 75

grass for cattle grazing, and burial sites; 19 INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSfamilies had been expelled from the land andforced into vagrancy with diminishing access The majority of Indigenous communities stillto food and water. lacked legal recognition of their land rights, despite the Constitution recognizing theirARGENTINA right to ancestral lands and natural resources.Argentine RepublicHead of state and government: Mauricio Macri In January, local police and members of the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA) – aWomen and girls faced obstacles in militarized federal police – closed off allaccessing legal abortions. Indigenous access points to the Indigenous landPeoples continued to be criminalized and inhabited by the Mapuche community Pu Lofdiscriminated against. Migrants’ rights en Resistencia in Chubut province. Thesuffered significant setbacks. community reported attacks by the police, including beatings and intimidation ofBACKGROUND children.1 At least 10 community members and their supporters were arrested. In AugustArgentina’s human rights situation was the GNA conducted an illegal raid in thereviewed under the UN UPR process and by same community, during which Santiagothe UN Committee against Torture. The UN Maldonado – a non-Indigenous supporter ofWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention the Mapuche community – disappeared. In(WGAD), the UN Independent Expert on October his body was found in a river in thesexual orientation and gender identity and territory. The judicial investigation into histhe Rapporteur on Argentina for the Inter- death was ongoing at the end of the year.American Commission on Human Rightsvisited Argentina during the year. The Neuquén provincial government, oil unions and industry created an investment In November, Congress approved the plan for the Vaca Muerta oilfield, locatednational law on gender parity. partly on the land of the Lof Campo Maripe Indigenous community, without theSEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS community’s participation.Women and girls continued to encounter Authorities used legal proceedings tobarriers to accessing legal abortion when the intimidate Indigenous Peoples, includingpregnancy posed a risk to their health, or accusations of sedition, resisting authority,when it resulted from rape. Full theft, attempted assaults and killings. Agustíndecriminalization of abortion was pending in Santillán, an Indigenous leader of the Wichíparliament. people in Formosa province, spent 190 days in pre-trial detention from April to OctoberVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN with more than 28 criminal proceedings against him.According to civil society information, at least254 femicides occurred between January REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTSand November. The National Women'sInstitute and the National Plan of Action for Bypassing parliamentary debate, thethe Prevention, Assistance and Eradication of government modified the 2004 Migration Act,Violence against Women for 2017-2019 limiting entry and residency rights andappeared to lack the necessary resources to potentially hastening deportations.be fully implemented. The Asylum Act had not yet been fully implemented, 11 years after its adoption, and the National Committee for Refugees had no specific budget. The reception system for asylum-seekers remained slow and insufficient and there was no integration plan76 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

in place to help asylum-seekers and refugees police; some said they were forced toaccess basic rights such as education, work, undress completely.health care and language training.   In April, teachers were violently repressed Despite Argentina’s commitment in 2016 to while demonstrating for fair wages.receive 3,000 Syrian refugees, no Participants reported that police used tearresettlement programme had been created. gas and beat them while the military stoodFewer than 400 Syrian refugees had by. At least four teachers were arrested.benefited from a private sponsorship andhumanitarian visa scheme. In September, 31 people were violently detained and held at several police stations inIMPUNITY the capital, Buenos Aires, for more than 48 hours for participating in a massTrials before ordinary civilian courts demonstration following the disappearance ofcontinued to be held for crimes against Santiago Maldonado. Those detainedhumanity during the 1976-1983 military reported that they were beaten and someregime. Between 2006 and May 2017, 182 women were forced to undress.rulings were issued, bringing the totalnumber of convictions to 756 and acquittals In December, many protesters took to theto 74. streets in Buenos Aires to express their disagreement with a legislative reform In July, the Federal Court of Mendoza proposed by the government. The policeissued a historic decision under which four used excessive force and there were reportsformer members of the judiciary were of arbitrary detentions during thesentenced to life in prison and barred from demonstrations.3holding public office for contributing to thecommission of crimes against humanity The call by WGAD to national authorities toduring the military regime. immediately release social leader and activist Milagro Sala was not implemented. In The Supreme Court ruled in the case of Luis August, the Inter-American Commission onMuiña – who was found guilty of crimes Human Rights requested that Argentina offeragainst humanity – that one day served in Milagro Sala house arrest or other alternativespre-trial detention must be considered as to prison. This request was only partiallytwo, if the person has been detained without implemented since its conditions did notsentence for more than two years. Congress comply with domestic and internationalthen passed a law clarifying that the so-called standards.“2x1 formula” may not be applied to crimesagainst humanity, genocide or war crimes.2 1. Argentina: Violent repression of Mapuche Peoples (AMR 13/5477/2017) Public hearings continued in the case of thecover-up of the investigation into the 1994 2. Argentina: Amnistía Internacional repudia la aplicación del 2x1 aattack on the Jewish Mutual Association of delitos de lesa humanidad y estará presente en Plaza de Mayo (NewsArgentina building. A government decree story, 9 May)issued in April 2017 transferred classifieddocuments from the Prosecution Unit to the 3. Argentina: Autoridades deben garantizar protesta pacífica eMinistry of Justice, compromising the investigar violaciones a derechos humanos tras represión frente alindependence of the investigation and Congreso de la Nación (News story, 15 December)restricting complainants’ access to evidence.FREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION ANDASSEMBLYIndiscriminate detentions took place duringan International Women’s Day demonstrationon 8 March. Many women reported that theywere mistreated, detained and humiliated byAmnesty International Report 2017/18 77

ARMENIA UNFAIR TRIALSRepublic of Armenia Members of the opposition group thatHead of state: Serzh Sargsyan occupied a police station in the run-up to theHead of government: Karen Karapetyan 2016 protests stood trial on charges of a range of violent crimes, including hostage-Lack of accountability continued for the use taking and killing of police officers. Severalof unnecessary and excessive force by defendants reported being beaten inpolice during protests in the capital, detention, while their defence lawyersYerevan, in 2016. The trials of opposition reported that they themselves were subjectedmembers accused of hostage-taking and to pressure and harassment to obstruct theirother violent crimes violated the right to a work.fair trial. A human rights defender facedcriminal charges. The parliamentary and Arayik Papikyan, Mushegh Shushanyan,Yerevan city council elections were Nina Karapetyants and other defence lawyersaccompanied by incidents of violence. in the case complained that the detention facility’s administration prevented them fromBACKGROUND visiting the accused men and holding confidential meetings with them, andOn 2 April, the ruling Republican Party won a unlawfully confiscated and destroyed some ofparliamentary majority, in the first elections the case-related materials they were carrying.since the 2015 constitutional referendum Several lawyers also reported being subjectedapproved the transition from a presidential to to lengthy and intrusive security searchesa parliamentary republic. Monitors from the when arriving at court. Lawyers who refusedOSCE reported that the elections were to undergo searches were denied entry to the“tainted by credible information about vote- courtrooms and subjected to disciplinarybuying, and pressure on civil servants and proceedings by the Bar Association.employees of private companies” to vote forthe ruling party. The lawyers also reported that, on 28 June, five defendants were forcibly removed from In November, Armenia and the EU signed a the courtroom, taken to the basement andComprehensive and Enhanced Partnership beaten by several police officers while theAgreement, a looser form of co-operation court was in session. The defendants showedthan the Association Agreement which signs of ill-treatment, including bruises andArmenia rejected in 2013 in favour of joining scratches on their faces and legs,the Russian-led customs union. documented by prison medical staff. The police claimed these injuries were self-IMPUNITY inflicted when the defendants deliberately hit their heads and feet against walls and fencesThere was limited accountability for the in protest. At the end of the year,unnecessary and excessive use of force by investigations were ongoing into thepolice against largely peaceful anti- allegations of the beatings and thegovernment protesters in Yerevan in July harassment of the lawyers.2016, when hundreds of individuals wereinjured and arbitrarily arrested. Dozens of HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSprotesters faced criminal charges forallegedly violating public order and other In January, court hearings commenced in theoffences. The criminal investigation into case against Marina Poghosyan, a humanallegations of abuse of power by police rights defender and director of the NGOofficers did not lead to any criminal charges. Veles, known for exposing government corruption and providing legal aid to victims of human rights violations. She had been charged with extortion in 2015 after she alleged that former government officials were78 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

running a money laundering scheme. Local AUSTRALIAhuman rights defenders linked the trial to herwork exposing corruption. On 30 April, AustraliaMarina Poghosyan reported that a fake Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by PeterFacebook profile had been created under her Cosgrovename and used to send sexually explicit Head of government: Malcolm Turnbullphotos and videos to her contacts to smearher reputation. The justice system continued to fail Indigenous people, particularly children,FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION with high rates of incarceration, reports of abuse and deaths in custody. AustraliaThe parliamentary and Yerevan city council maintained hardline policies by confiningelections, in April and May respectively, and people seeking asylum in offshorethe preceding electoral campaigns were processing centres in Papua New Guineaaccompanied by isolated incidents of and Nauru, and turning back thoseviolence against journalists and others attempting to reach Australia by boat. Inattempting to expose violations of the October, Australia was elected to the UNelectoral process. Human Rights Council, attracting calls for improvement of its human rights record, On 2 April, two journalists were attacked in including cutting all ties to the MyanmarYerevan’s Kond neighbourhood while military.investigating allegations of vote-buying at thelocal Republican Party’s campaign office. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTSSupporters of the Party took away onereporter’s video equipment as she was Indigenous children were 25 times morefilming people leaving the campaign office. likely to be imprisoned than non-IndigenousAn investigation into the incident was ongoing children.at the end of the year. Leaked footage exposed abuses of childrenECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL in prison in the Northern Territory, includingRIGHTS tear gassing, restraints, choking and solitary confinement. In response, a RoyalThe CERD Committee raised concerns over Commission into the Protection andthe absence of data on the enjoyment of Detention of Children in the Northerneconomic, social and cultural rights by Territory was established and reported on 17minority groups, refugees and asylum- November.seekers. It also raised concern over the lackof information available on small minority An independent review of youth detentionethnic groups – such as the Lom (also known centres in Queensland released in Aprilas Bosha) and the Molokans – and requested found abuses including solitary confinement,that the authorities collect data on economic use of dogs to intimidate, missing CCTVand social indicators disaggregated by footage, and children at risk of self-harmethnicity, nationality and country of origin. being sedated and hogtied. Further alleged abuses emerged in Victoria, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia. Indigenous adults were 15 times more likely to be jailed than non-Indigenous adults. At least eight Indigenous people died in police custody. The government did not adopt a national plan to ensure Australia meets its obligationsAmnesty International Report 2017/18 79

in protecting the rights of Indigenous Lankan nationals in March; five Chinesechildren. However, on 15 December, it nationals who landed in northern Australia inratified the Optional Protocol to the August; and a boat containing 29 Sri LankanConvention against Torture (OPCAT), which nationals in December.mandates that youth detention centres andpolice lockups are subject to independent Australia continued its policy of mandatoryoversight and monitoring. indefinite detention of people arriving by plane without a visa. As of 30 November,REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS there were 1,301 people in immigration detention onshore (including on ChristmasOn 9 April, the government announced that Island). Of these, 19.8% had been detainedthe Australian-run facility on Manus Island, for over 730 days.Papua New Guinea (PNG), would be closedby 31 October following the PNG Supreme Australia’s resettlement and humanitarianCourt ruling in 2016 that the centre was intake was 16,250 for its financial year“illegal” and “unconstitutional”. On 14 April, beginning in June. This decreased fromPNG Defence Force personnel fired into the almost 22,000 for the previous financial year,centre injuring nine people. with an additional intake of Syrian and Iraqi refugees ending. The men in detention were forcibly movedinto “transit” centres on Manus Island on 24 RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,November. By the end of the year there was TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEno clear plan for the settlement of refugees ina safe country. Following an overwhelming vote in favour of same-sex marriage, Parliament passed As of December there were approximately legislation to create marriage equality in800 adult males in detention on Manus December. The postal survey process chosenIsland (see Papua New Guinea entry). by the government failed to acknowledge that marriage equality is a human right and The Australian government was forced to generated divisive and damaging publicpay a settlement in June to nearly 2,000 debate.refugees and asylum-seekers held on ManusIsland, for illegally detaining them in horrific AUSTRIAconditions between 2012 and 2016. Republic of Austria As of 30 November, there were 339 people Head of state: Alexander Van der Bellen (replacedliving in the offshore processing facility on Heinz Fischer in January)Nauru, including 36 children. They were Head of government: Sebastian Kurz (replacedsubjected to humiliation, neglect, abuse and Christian Kern in December)poor physical and mental health care. Atleast 820 additional refugees lived in the The number of asylum-seekers continued tocommunity on Nauru; these people faced fall. Authorities continued to deportserious security risks and inadequate access rejected asylum-seekers to Afghanistanto health care, education and employment. despite the security situation in the country. Amendments to the law on public Approximately 435 people transferred to assemblies increased the potential forAustralia for medical treatment remained at restrictions on the right to peacefulrisk of return to either Nauru or Manus assembly.Island. Australia continued its “turnback” policy. InMay the government reported that since2013, 30 boats had been returned either toIndonesia or to their country of departure.During 2017 people were directly returned totheir country of nationality on three knownoccasions: from a boat containing 25 Sri80 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

REFUGEES’ AND MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS – far-reaching amendments to the law,FORCIBLE RETURN including fines and other administrative measures against organizers not complyingBetween January and August, 17,095 people with the law, and a cap on the number ofrequested asylum; the number fell by nearly public assemblies taking place in shoppinghalf compared to 32,114 people for the same streets. There were no steps to further amendperiod in 2016. the law at the end of the year. In October, Parliament amended the asylum COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITYlaw to automatically add a return order to anydecision concerning the revocation of asylum In July, the government tabled anor subsidiary protection status, for example amendment to the Criminal Procedure Codeupon conviction for a criminal offence, that would introduce several new far-reachingincreasing the risk of refoulement – forcible surveillance methods. The amendment gavereturn of an individual to a country where rise to concern regarding the right to privacy.they would risk serious human rights The methods included software to accessviolations. data from smartphones and techniques to intercept mobile phone traffic. The authorities The authorities continued to deport rejected would be able to use many of thoseasylum-seekers and undocumented migrants techniques without seeking prior judicialto Afghanistan despite the deterioration of the authorization.security situation in the country. In the firsthalf of the year, 67 people were forcibly DISCRIMINATIONreturned there. In October, a new law entered into force In September, the Minister of the Interior banning any kind of full-face covering inannounced the non-renewal of the public spaces. Despite its purpose ofHumanitarian Admission Programme “promoting active participation in society”,pointing to the large number of asylum cases the law disproportionately restricted the rightsthat were still pending. Since 2013, 1,900 to freedom of expression and of religion orvulnerable refugees had been successfully belief.resettled through the Programme. In June, the Austrian National Council During the year, asylum-seekers brought six rejected a motion that would open aindividual complaints before the UN Human discussion on equal marriage irrespective ofRights Committee alleging that their return sexual orientation and gender identity. Same-under the Dublin III Regulation (an EU law sex couples could enter a civil partnershipthat establishes the criteria and mechanisms but were not allowed to marry. In December,for determining the EU member state the Constitutional Court repealedresponsible for examining an asylum discriminatory passages of the Marriage Actapplication) to Bulgaria and Italy would and the Registered Partnership Act. Theviolate their human rights. In March the repeal was to take effect from 1 Januaryauthorities deported a Syrian family to 2019, thus enabling same-sex couples toBulgaria and in June a Somalian woman to marry and heterosexual couples to enterItaly, despite the Human Rights Committee registered partnerships.requesting Austria to refrain from doing so.FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYIn June, Parliament amended the law onpublic assemblies, which gave the authoritiesnew vaguely formulated grounds to prohibitpublic assemblies, including where anassembly is “against a foreign policyinterest”. Shortly after, the Minister of theInterior suggested the introduction of furtherAmnesty International Report 2017/18 81

AZERBAIJAN Mammadov to immediately release him; he had been arbitrarily detained since 2013.Republic of AzerbaijanHead of state: Ilham Aliyev The EU and Azerbaijan proceeded withHead of government: Artur Rasizade negotiations over a new strategic partnership agreement to deepen their economicAuthorities intensified the crackdown on the relationship. In October, the European Bankright to freedom of expression, particularly for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)following revelations of large-scale political approved a USD500 million loan for thecorruption. Independent news outlets were construction of a government-owned gasblocked and their owners arrested. Critics of pipeline. This was despite Azerbaijan’sthe government continued to face politically suspension from the EBRD-endorsedmotivated prosecution and imprisonment international oil and gas transparencyfollowing unfair trials. LGBTI individuals initiative in March 2017, due to its repressionwere arbitrarily arrested and ill-treated. of civil society.Suspicious deaths in custody were still noteffectively investigated. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATIONBACKGROUND Leading human rights organizations remained unable to resume their work. TheIn July, renewed hostilities in the breakaway authorities continued using restrictiveregion of Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in the regulations and arbitrary prosecution to closedeath of at least two ethnic Azerbaijani down the few remaining critical organizations.civilians, including a minor, following shellingby the Armenian-backed forces. On 2 May, Aziz Orujev, head of the independent online TV channel Kanal 13, Azerbaijan received international attention was arrested by a police officer who claimedfollowing a report by the Organized Crime he looked like a wanted fugitive andand Corruption Reporting Project, published remanded him to 30 days of administrativein September, which accused members of detention for purportedly disobeying policeAzerbaijan’s political elite of operating a large orders. On the day of his release, Aziz Orujevinternational money laundering scheme. Part was remanded on fabricated charges ofof the money was allegedly used to pay illegal entrepreneurship and abuse of office,European politicians to help whitewash and ordered to pre-trial detention. On 15Azerbaijan’s human rights reputation, among December Baku Court on Grave Crimesother things. On 11 October, the sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment.Parliamentary Assembly of the Council ofEurope (PACE) adopted two critical In August, the prosecution opened anresolutions on Azerbaijan following allegations investigation into Azerbaijan’s only remainingthat some members of the PACE had independent news agency, Turan, andbenefited from the money laundering arrested its director, Mehman Aliyev, onscheme. fabricated charges of illegal entrepreneurship. Following international On 5 December, the Committee of Ministers pressure, Mehman Aliyev was transferred toof the Council of Europe triggered house arrest on 11 September. On 2infringement proceedings against Azerbaijan November, the prosecution dropped theunder Article 46.4 of the European charges against him and closed theConvention on Human Rights. This followed investigation against Turan.its repeated failure to implement the decisionof the European Court of Human Rights FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION(ECtHR) in the case of opposition leader Ilgar All mainstream media remained under effective government control, with independent media outlets facing undue restrictions and media workers facing82 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

harassment. Access to opposition newspaper across the border by security services, whowebsites was blocked. accused him of a range of offences including smuggling. He remained in detention and his Radio Azadliq (Radio Free Europe/Radio trial was ongoing at the end of the year.Liberty Azerbaijani service), Meydan TV, andAzerbaycan SAATI, remained blocked Russian-Israeli-Ukrainian blogger Aleksandrfollowing a claim by the prosecutor’s office Lapshin, who published critical posts on thethat they posed a threat to national security. situation in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-On 12 May, a court in the capital, Baku, Karabakh region, was arrested in Belarus,ruled in favour of keeping the websites and extradited to Azerbaijan in February. Inblocked. July, a court in Baku sentenced him to threePROSECUTION OF CRITICS years in prison for entering the breakawayThe authorities continued to arbitrarily arrest region illegally. He was released on 11and detain independent journalists and September after a presidential pardon.bloggers. According to Azerbaijani humanrights defenders more than 150 people RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,remained in prison on politically motivated TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEcharges, and the number of such casescontinued to grow. On 22 September, more than 100 LGBTI individuals were rounded up by the police in On 9 January, police officers detained and public spaces and detained. Some wereheld blogger Mehman Huseynov overnight in released, but at least 48 were sentenced toincommunicado detention. He reported that administrative detention, ranging from 10 tohe was beaten by the police and subjected to 20 days. They were accused of “resistingelectric shocks while in custody. On 3 March, police’s legitimate orders”, and found guiltya court in Baku sentenced him to two years on the basis of police officers’ allegations,in prison for “defaming” police officers. without any further evidence. The summary hearings fell short of international trial On 12 January, Afgan Sadygov, a journalist standards. The detainees said they had beenand blogger from Jalilabad District, was beaten by the police and subjected to othersentenced to two and a half years in prison. ill-treatment while in custody. All wereHe was prosecuted under hooliganism released on 2 October.charges, after writing about governmentcorruption and refusing to remove his articles UNFAIR TRIALSfrom the internet. Unfair trials were commonplace, particularly On 14 June, Fikret Faramazoglu, editor of in politically motivated proceedings, duringthe independent news website Journalistic which suspects were typically detained andResearch Centre, was sentenced to seven charged without access to a lawyer of theiryears in prison and banned from his choice. Police continued using torture andprofession for a further two years. He had other ill-treatment to extract forcedbeen detained on 30 June 2016 for allegedly confessions which were later used by judgesextorting money from a restaurant owner, as incriminating evidence. Allegations ofcharges that he denied. torture and other ill-treatment were notFORCIBLE RETURNS effectively investigated.The authorities intensified their clampdownon critics who had fled the country, and On 25 January, the Baku Serious Crimesunlawfully transferred many of them back to Court sentenced 18 men associated with theAzerbaijan and harassed their families. Shi’ite Muslim Unity Movement (MUM) in Nardaran to lengthy prison terms. Their trial Investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was did not meet international standards ofabducted in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on fairness and was marred by numerous torture29 May, and reappeared in the custody of allegations. During the trial, the defendantsAzerbaijani border police the following day. complained of having been tortured intoHe said he had been abducted and traffickedAmnesty International Report 2017/18 83

signing confessions. Witnesses called by the BAHRAINprosecution also said that they had beenthreatened by police into incriminating MUM Kingdom of Bahraindefendants. The forced testimonies were Head of state: King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifaadmitted by court and used by the Head of government: Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al-prosecution throughout the trial. Khalifa Elgiz Garhaman, a NIDA Youth movement The government launched a large-scaleactivist, was sentenced to five and a half campaign to clamp down on all forms ofyears in prison on fabricated drug-related dissent by repressing the rights to freedomcharges following an unfair trial. He was of expression and association of humandenied access to lawyers of his choice, and rights defenders and government critics.kept incommunicado for a week following his This campaign was marked by travel bans;detention. During the trial, he told the judge the arrest, interrogation and arbitrarythe police had beaten, threatened and detention of human rights defenders; thehumiliated him into signing a confession. The dissolution of the opposition group Waadjudge refused to order an investigation into and the closure of the newspaper al-Wasat;his allegations, dismissing them as as well as the continued imprisonment ofgroundless. opposition leaders. Scores of people were sentenced to long prison terms after unfair On 1 December, the amendments to the trials. Authorities stripped at least 150Code of Civil and Administrative Procedure people of their Bahraini nationality,excluded lawyers without Bar Association rendering the majority stateless. Mass(Collegium of Lawyers) membership from protests were met with excessive force,court proceedings. resulting in the deaths of five men and one child and the injury of hundreds.DEATHS IN CUSTODY Executions resumed after a hiatus of nearly seven years.The authorities repeatedly failed to promptlyand effectively investigate reported deaths in BACKGROUNDcustody. Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia, the UAE and On 4 May, the ECtHR ruled that the Egypt in severing ties with Qatar. BahrainAzerbaijani government violated the right to remained part of the Saudi Arabia-ledlife of Mahir Mustafayev for its failure to coalition engaged in armed conflict in Yemenprotect his life while in custody and to (see Yemen entry).conduct an effective investigation into thecircumstances of his death. Mahir In January, Decree 1 of 2017 authorized theMustafayev died from his burns caused by a National Security Agency (NSA) to conductfire in his cell in December 2006. arrests and interrogations in cases linked to “terrorist crimes”, reversing a Bahrain On 28 April, activist and blogger Mehman Independent Commission of InquiryQalandarov was found hanged in his prison recommendation. In April, the King reversedcell in Kurdakhani. Police arrested him on another such recommendation by ratifying adrug-related charges for his Facebook posts constitutional amendment that re-enabledin support of two other activists who had military courts to try civilians. In December,been arrested for spraying political graffiti. six men were sentenced to death in the firstAccording to local human rights defenders, trial of civilians by a military court, whichMehman Qalandarov had been tortured and had begun in October. In June, Bahrain’swas buried in secret to conceal the evidence. lower house approved a decree endingThe prison administration announced his retirement rights and benefits of those whodeath on 29 April, and an investigation wasongoing at the end of the year.84 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

had their citizenship revoked, or who lost or Morocco. In May, journalist Nazeeha Saeedwere granted foreign citizenship without was convicted for working without renewingpermission. her press licence, issued by the Information Affairs Authority, and fined 1,000BD In March, the US administration approved (USD2,650). The court of appeal upheld thethe sale to Bahrain of new F-16 fighter jets fine in July.and upgrades for older jets, which under theprevious US administration had been FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATIONconditional on the improvement of humanrights in Bahrain. The authorities maintained undue restrictions on freedom of association. Leaders of al- International NGOs, including Amnesty Wefaq and other opposition parties remainedInternational, and journalists critical of in detention and political activists andBahrain, were denied access to Bahrain members of opposition parties werethroughout the year. harassed. Several political activists and members of opposition parties reported thatFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION they were threatened, tortured or otherwise ill-treated by NSA agents in May.Freedom of expression remained severelyrestricted throughout the year. The authorities In February, the dissolution of al-Wefaq wasarrested, detained, interrogated and upheld by the Court of Cassation. In March,prosecuted human rights defenders, political the Minister of Justice filed a lawsuit againstactivists and Shi’a clerics who expressed the secular opposition group Waad forcriticism of government policies, or criticism violating the Law on Political Associations. Inof Saudi Arabia or the Saudi-led coalition in May, the High Administrative Court orderedYemen. The government announced that it the dissolution of Waad and the liquidation ofwould be illegal to express sympathy with its assets. In October the Appeal CourtQatar following the severance of ties in June, upheld the verdict.and arrested and detained one lawyer on thatbasis. Human rights defenders and Opposition leaders and prisoners ofopposition leaders arbitrarily detained in conscience Sheikh Ali Salman and Fadhelprevious years for their peaceful opposition Abbas Mahdi Mohamed remained arbitrarilyremained held as prisoners of conscience. detained. In April, Sheikh Ali Salman’s prison sentence was reduced to four years; in In May, human rights defender Ebtisam al- November he was charged with spying forSaegh was arrested and interrogated in NSA Qatar in 2011, which he denied, and at thecustody, during which she said she was end of the year his trial was ongoing. Intortured, including by being sexually March, former Secretary General of Waad,assaulted. She was arrested again in July and Ebrahim Sharif, was charged over a series ofremanded in custody for a further six months posts on Twitter, including an Amnestypending completion of the investigation. She International graphic and a tweet criticizingwas released in October without knowing the the lack of democracy in Bahrain.legal status of the case against her. In July,human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYsentenced to two years in prison for“spreading false information and rumours Protests remained banned in the capital,with the aim of discrediting the state”. The Manama, and the authorities usedsentence was upheld on appeal in unnecessary and excessive force to disperseNovember. protests. Peaceful protesters continued to be arrested and detained on charges of “illegal The media continued to be restricted and gathering”. In January, mostly peaceful massjournalists were targeted. The only protests took place in 20 villages following theindependent newspaper in Bahrain, al- execution of three men. In Duraz, securityWasat, was temporarily suspended and then forces used live ammunition and semi-shut down after it reported on protests inAmnesty International Report 2017/18 85

automatic rifles, injuring hundreds, including DEPRIVATION OF NATIONALITYMustapha Hamdan, who later died of hiswounds. In February, hundreds of protesters Authorities obtained court orders to strip atagain took to the streets in several villages least 150 people of their Bahraini nationality.when the authorities refused to allow the The majority were effectively renderedfuneral of three men who were killed by stateless as they had no other nationality. Nocoastguard forces after escaping from Jaw forced expulsions took place.prison a month earlier. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT The authorities continued to restrict accessto Duraz village until May, where a peaceful There continued to be reports of torture anddaily sit-in continued outside the home of other ill-treatment in custody, in particular ofSheikh Isa Qassem, the spiritual leader of al- those interrogated about terrorism-relatedWefaq. On 23 May, security forces entered offences. In May alone, eight human rightsDuraz with hundreds of armoured vehicles, defenders and political activists in NSAbeating protesters, firing tear gas from custody were reportedly tortured or otherwisearmoured vehicles or helicopters and firing ill-treated. Unfair trials continued and courtsbirdshot. Four men and a 17-year-old child relied on allegedly coerced “confessions” towere killed. convict defendants on terrorism-related charges. In February, human rights defender NaderAbdulemam was arrested to serve a six- Reports of ill-treatment in Dry Dock prisonmonth sentence for participating in an “illegal and Jaw prison continued, including the usegathering” and having called on people on of prolonged solitary confinement and lack ofTwitter to join a protest in Manama in January adequate medical care. After the escape of2013. He was held as a prisoner of 10 prisoners from Jaw prison in January, newconscience until his release in June. arbitrary regulations were introduced, including that prisoners must remain locked In May, the Court of Appeal reduced Dr in their cells for most of the day. Prisoners’Taha Derazi’s six-month prison sentence to legs and ankles were shackled whenever theythree months for taking part in an “illegal left their cells, including to go to the medicalgathering” in Duraz in July 2016. He was clinic. Eleven opposition activists whoheld as a prisoner of conscience until his remained in prison, including Abdulhadi al-release in August. Khawaja, refused to attend medical appointments to protest the mandatory prisonFREEDOM OF MOVEMENT uniform, shackles and full body strip search required to attend the appointment. InThe authorities maintained administrative March, the prison administration alsotravel bans that prevented scores of human reduced the length of family visits from onerights defenders and other critics from hour to 30 minutes and separated prisonerstravelling abroad, including to attend from visitors by a glass barrier.meetings of the UN Human Rights Council.In April, days ahead of the UN UPR of Student Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-ArabBahrain, 32 activists were summoned by the reported that he was tortured throughout 26Public Prosecution. The majority were days of interrogation in February and March,charged with “illegal gathering” and banned including by having his toenails pulled out,from travelling. Most bans were lifted in July, being subjected to electric shocks andafter the UPR had been conducted. Similar beatings, and being forced to sign atactics were used in September ahead of the “confession”. In May, Ebtisam al-Saegh andUN Human Rights Council session in which seven other peaceful critics reported thatthe outcome of the UPR on Bahrain was they were tortured and otherwise ill-treated inadopted. NSA custody. (See above, Freedom of expression.)86 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

IMPUNITY FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONA climate of impunity persisted. The Attacks against journalists continued, with aauthorities continued to fail to hold senior number of physical assaults on journalistsofficials accountable for torture and other reported, including the killing of Abdul Hakimhuman rights violations committed during Shimul.and since the 2011 protests. No investigationor prosecution was known to have taken The government continued to useplace into the deaths of six people, including repressive laws to unduly restrict the right toone child, killed by security forces in Duraz freedom of expression, and to target andbetween January and May 2017. harass journalists and human rights defenders. Key punitive provisions of theWORKERS’ RIGHTS – MIGRANT Information and Communications TechnologyWORKERS  (ICT) Act remained intact, despite repeated calls by human rights mechanisms to repealMigrant workers continued to face its abusive clauses. The governmentexploitation. In March and June, migrant reiterated its intention to introduce the Digitalworkers participated in marches to peacefully Security Act, which would restrict further theprotest against unpaid salaries. right to freedom of expression online.DEATH PENALTY Investigations into killings during 2015 and 2016, which were claimed by the armedBahrain resumed executions after a hiatus of group Ansar al-Islam and targeted secularnearly seven years, executing three Bahrainis activists, were still ongoing. The group wasin January. The courts continued to hand banned in March 2017 but ongoing delays indown death sentences for offences including criminal prosecutions continued to have amurder and terrorism-related charges. chilling impact on civil society.BANGLADESH RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEPeople’s Republic of BangladeshHead of state: Abdul Hamid LGBTI activists continued to be routinelyHead of government: Sheikh Hasina harassed and subject to arbitrary detention by state and non-state actors. The killings ofBangladesh received more than 655,000 activists in 2016 by Ansar al-Islam intensifiedRohingya refugees who were forced out of existing fears of the LGBTI community; manyMyanmar’s Rakhine State. Members of the activists remained in hiding. In May, 28 menopposition Jamaat-e-Islami were arbitrarily believed to have been targeted for theirarrested. Human rights defenders were perceived sexual orientation were arrested inharassed and intimidated. The rights to Keraniganj, a neighbourhood of the capital,freedom of peaceful assembly and Dhaka, and charged with violating theassociation remained restricted. Enforced Narcotics Control Act 1990. The arrests weredisappearances persisted. The strategy to made at a regular gathering known to becombat violence by armed groups continued frequented by gay men.to be marked by human rights violations.LGBTI people continued to be harassed and No one was brought to justice for the 2016arrested. Security forces in the Chittagong killing of LGBTI activists Xulhaz Mannan,Hill Tracts failed to protect Indigenous Mahbub Rabbi Tanoy, Avijit Roy and Niladrypeople from violence. On a positive note, a Niloy, although at least one arrest was madedecade of steady economic growth helped in 2017.to reduce extreme poverty. FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY The right to freedom of peaceful assembly continued to be severely restricted. Political opponents were denied the right toAmnesty International Report 2017/18 87

organize campaign meetings and political that indicated executive interference followingrallies.The activities of NGOs continued to be the 16th Amendment decision. restricted through the Foreign Donation(Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act.  REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERSENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES An acute humanitarian crisis began in August when more than 655,000 of Myanmar’sEnforced disappearances were routinely mainly Muslim Rohingya fled to the district ofcarried out by security forces, mainly Cox’s Bazar after fleeing violence inflicted bytargeting supporters of the opposition. Some the Myanmar military in northern Rakhineof the disappeared were subsequently found State. The Myanmar military’s campaign ofdead. In a statement to the authorities in ethnic cleansing amounted to crimes againstFebruary, the UN Working Group on Enforced humanity under international law (seeor Involuntary Disappearances said that the Myanmar entry). Cox’s Bazar already hostednumber of enforced disappearances had approximately 400,000 Rohingya refugeesrisen considerably in recent years. Reports who had fled earlier episodes of violence andsuggested that more than 80 people were persecution at the hands of the Myanmarforcibly disappeared during the year. military. In March, Hummam Quader Chowdhury, Bangladesh continued to refuse to formallyson of an executed leader of the opposition recognize Rohingya as refugees. Reports ofBangladesh Nationalist Party, was released severe malnutrition were rife; childrenafter six months’ incommunicado detention. comprised 61% of the new arrivals and wereConcerns increased for the safety of Mir particularly affected.Ahmad Bin Quasem and Abdullahil AmaanAzmi, also sons of executed opposition Rohingya women and girls were atleaders; they disappeared in August 2016 heightened risk of sexual and gender-basedand their whereabouts remained unknown at violence and human trafficking, both by thethe end of 2017. In April, Swedish Radio local population and other refugees. Riskpublished an interview – recorded factors included inadequate protection orundercover – in which a senior member of camp management mechanisms, poor livingthe Rapid Action Battalion described how the conditions, lack of a civil administration andunit carried out enforced disappearances and police presence, as well as lack of access toextrajudicial executions. In October, the formal justice system and other services.academic Mubashar Hasan was Newly arrived Rohingya lived in squalidallegedly abducted by members of military conditions and were not permitted to leaveintelligence; he returned home after 44 days. the camp.JUSTICE SYSTEM In November, the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar signed aConcerns increased about the growing repatriation agreement to facilitate the returninterference by the government in the of newly arrived Rohingya to Myanmar. Thejudiciary. In July, the Chief Justice presided conditions of the agreement could violateover a ruling overturning a controversial international standards on voluntaryconstitutional amendment (16th repatriation and the international legalAmendment) which allowed parliament to principle of non-refoulement, paving the wayimpeach judges if charges against them of for forcible return of hundreds of thousandsmisconduct or incapability were upheld. The of Rohingya to Myanmar where they were atPrime Minister criticized the Chief Justice serious risk of human rights violations.after the ruling. Subsequently in November,Chief Justice Sinha resigned from his post TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENTand left the country under circumstances Torture and other ill-treatment in custody remained widespread and complaints were rarely investigated. The 2013 Torture and88 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Custodial Death (Prevention) Act continued BELARUSto be inadequately enforced due to a lack ofpolitical will and awareness among law Republic of Belarusenforcement agencies. Head of state: Alyaksandr Lukashenka Head of government: Andrey KabyakouDEATH PENALTY Between February and April, the authoritiesScores of people were sentenced to death violently cracked down on peacefuland executions took place. protests. The government continued to refuse to accept the mandate of the UN In April, two people were sentenced to Special Rapporteur on human rights indeath after being convicted of crimes against Belarus. Several individuals seekinghumanity by the International Crimes international protection were returned toTribunal, a Bangladeshi court established to countries where they were at risk of tortureinvestigate the events of the 1971 and other ill-treatment. Heavy legislativeindependence war. The Tribunal also restrictions on media, NGOs, politicalconcluded the hearing of arguments in the parties and public assemblies remained intrial of six alleged war criminals in Gaibandha place. One person was executed and fourfor mass killings, abductions, looting and were sentenced to death.arson during the 1971 war. The trialremained ongoing. Serious concerns BACKGROUNDregarding the fairness of the trial were raisedabout the Tribunal proceedings, such as After several years with no large protests,denial of adequate time for defence lawyers mass demonstrations took place in Februaryto prepare their cases and arbitrary limitation and March against a tax on the unemployed,of the number of witnesses. introduced by a Presidential Decree in 2015. The authorities clamped down on theCHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS protests. In March, they accused 35 men of plotting mass disturbances supported withIn June, at least one person was killed and foreign funding, and hinted that these werehundreds of homes were burned during a linked to the demonstrations. The arrestsmob attack on Indigenous people in the town were widely televised; by July, all men hadof Langadu, Rangamati Hill District. Police been released.and soldiers reportedly failed to protectIndigenous villagers. Those made homeless The rapprochement between Belarus andhad not been rehoused by the end of the its western neighbours continued. In July, theyear. A video posted on social media OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held inappeared to show soldiers using excessive Minsk, the capital.force against students peacefully protestingagainst the violence and the 1996 DEATH PENALTYdisappearance of Indigenous rights activistKalpana Chakma. Mithun Chakma, an In April, Siarhei Vostrykau, who had been onIndigenous rights campaigner, denounced a death row since May 2016, was executed.“situation of suffocation” in which he was Homel Regional Court received confirmationforced to attend court up to eight times a of his execution on 29 April. The last lettermonth to answer criminal charges relating to his mother received from him was dated 1311 separate cases, some of which were April.under the ICT Act and concerned articles hehad posted on social media about human Five men remained on death row. Theyrights violations, thus preventing him from included Aliaksei Mikhalenya, whosecarrying out his work as a human rights sentence on 17 March was upheld by thedefender. Supreme Court on 30 June; Ihar Hershankou and Siamion Berazhnoy, both sentenced onAmnesty International Report 2017/18 89

21 July and whose appeals were rejected by or detained for five to 25 days. All but onethe Supreme Court on 20 December, and arrested individual were found guilty inViktar Liotau who was sentenced on 22 summary trials; courts uniformly acceptedSeptember. Kiryl Kazachok, who was police reports as evidence against themsentenced on 28 December 2016, chose not without any questioning.to appeal. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATIONPRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE Heavy restrictions on NGOs remained inDozens of protesters were sentenced for their place. Under Article 193.1 of the Criminalpeaceful activism. On 7 April, Zavodski Code, the founding, or participation in, theDistrict Court in Minsk changed Dzmitry activities of an unregistered organizationPaliyenka’s conditional sentence from 2016 remained a crime punishable by up to twoto two years’ imprisonment after he received years’ imprisonment.two administrative penalties. His firstadministrative penalty on 10 March 2017 – a On 25 March, masked police officers raidedseven-day detention for “minor hooliganism” the office of human rights group Vyasna andand “disobedience to lawful police demands” arrested all 57 people present. Among them– was imposed after he vocally criticized the were local and international human rightsverdict at a trial he was observing. His defenders and journalists who were attendingsecond administrative penalty on 20 March training on how to monitor demonstrations.2017 – a 15-day detention for “organizing or They were held for three hours at the localparticipating in unsanctioned mass events” – police station and released without charge orwas imposed for his peaceful protest on 25 explanation. One detainee was hospitalizedFebruary against the construction of a for head injuries sustained during the arrest.building in central Minsk. Dzmitry Paliyenkareceived the two-year suspended sentence FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONfor purportedly assaulting a police officerduring a peaceful cyclists’ protest in Minsk in Official accreditation remained compulsoryApril 2016. for anyone working for a foreign media outlet and continued to be routinely and arbitrarilyFREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY denied. More than 100 print, radio and TV journalists and bloggers were arrested for notIn February and March, thousands of people having obtained accreditation, someattended a series of peaceful rallies across repeatedly, leading to fines. In at least eightthe country to protest against the tax on the cases, journalists reporting from protestsunemployed. Some of the organizers and were arrested as participants and sentencedparticipants reported harassment by the to administrative detention of between fivepolice, including brief detentions and police and 15 days.summons for questioning. On 25 March,police prevented peaceful protesters from Journalist Larysa Schyryakova, from the cityassembling in central Minsk and arrested Homel in southeastern Belarus, was arrestedhundreds; some arrests were made using and fined repeatedly for reporting onexcessive force. Some protesters were protests. She reported that police warned herseverely beaten by law enforcement officials that she could be found “sociallyduring arrest and in police custody. irresponsible” if she committed further administrative offences and that her 11-year- Between February and April, over 900 old son might be placed in a children’s home.people were arrested in connection with theprotests, including political activists who were LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL ORprevented from attending the protests and INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTSjournalists. At least 177 were found guilty ofpurported administrative offences and fined The tax on the unemployed remained in place; failure to comply continued to incur administrative fines and compulsory90 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

community service. In March, after the BELGIUMprotests against the tax, the Presidentmandated the government to suspend the tax Kingdom of Belgiumcollection until 2018; in August, he promised Head of state: King Philippeto waive the tax for “people with many Head of government: Charles Michelchildren, the sick and invalids”. Respectivechanges were introduced in October. Prison conditions remained poor; hundreds of offenders with mental health problems orREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS mental disabilities continued to be detained in inadequate prison wards. Several laws onBelarus lacked a functioning asylum system professional secrecy introducedand repeatedly handed over individuals requirements for social workers to shareseeking international protection to authorities private information regarding potentialof countries where they were at real risk of suspects of terrorism-related offences.torture or other ill-treatment. Parliament introduced a number ofFORCIBLE RETURN restrictions to asylum and migration laws. AEthnic Chechen Imran Salamov, who claimed new law on legal gender recognitionto have been repeatedly tortured in improved the rights of transgender people.Chechnya, was forcibly returned to Russia on5 September. He was in the process of COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITYappealing against his rejected asylumapplication. On 11 September, the Chechen In July, Parliament adopted a new lawauthorities confirmed that he was in police establishing a special status andcustody in Grozny, capital of Chechnya. Since compensation system for victims of terrorism-that date, he had had no contact with his related offences. However, the law failed tolawyer or family and his whereabouts ensure swift and full compensation. Victimsremained undisclosed at the end of the year. could access state compensation only after aFollowing his forcible return, the Belarusian burdensome and lengthy process.authorities opened an investigation whichconcluded that there had been a violation of In May, Parliament passed a law requiringBelarusian law and that Imran Salamov had employees of welfare institutions to report tobeen prematurely expelled from Belarus. prosecutors, or provide upon their request,Disciplinary action was taken against a information on people who could be involvednumber of officials linked to his case and was in the perpetration of terrorism-relatedongoing at the end of the year. offences. In June a new law passed that allowed the sharing of confidential Russian-Ukrainian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr information previously protected byLapshin was detained in Belarus in professional secrecy obligations to preventDecember 2016 on request from Azerbaijan, the commission of terrorism-related offences.and extradited to Azerbaijan in Februarywhere he was detained arbitrarily and In October, Parliament amended theprosecuted in connection with his blog posts Constitution to increase the maximumcriticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. duration of pre-charge detention from 24 toAleksandr Lapshin was sentenced to three 48 hours. The provision applies to suspectsyears’ imprisonment and released under a of any crime, although the initial proposedpresidential pardon on 11 September (see scope was restricted to suspects of terrorism-Azerbaijan entry). related offences. Authorities failed to effectively monitor the human rights impact of measures against terrorism and radicalization.Amnesty International Report 2017/18 91

DETENTION in the context of this operation. In December, testimonies surfaced of returnees who statedPrisons continued to be overcrowded, that upon return they had been detained byfacilities dilapidated and there was Sudanese government agents, interrogatedinsufficient access to basic services. Several and subjected to ill-treatment or torture. Thehundred offenders with mental health government announced an investigation intoproblems or mental disabilities remained in the allegations.detention in regular prisons with insufficienthealth care and treatment. DISCRIMINATION In May, the European Court of Human On 14 March, the Court of Justice of the EURights (ECtHR) found that the conditions of failed to uphold Muslim women’s right todetention of two detainees in two different non-discrimination by ruling that a privateprisons amounted to inhuman or degrading Belgian employer had not breached EU anti-treatment. discrimination law in dismissing a woman for wearing a headscarf. In July, the European Committee for thePrevention of Torture raised concerns RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,regarding the consequences of the repeated TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEstrikes by prison officials in recent yearswhich worsened the poor detention On 24 May, Parliament adopted a lawconditions. allowing transgender people to seek legal gender recognition without imposing on them In September, the ECtHR ruled that any psychiatric assessment or sterilizationBelgium had violated the right to life of requirements.Michael Tekin, an offender with a mentalhealth problem who died in custody in a ARMS TRADEregular section of Jamioulx prison on 8August 2009. The Court found that the The Walloon regional government continuedrestraining technique used by three prison to license weapon transfers to parties of theofficers was unnecessary and Saudi-Arabia-led coalition in Yemen. In June,disproportionate. the Flemish regional Parliament improved the compliance of its legislation with the ArmsREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS Trade Treaty by, among other things, amending the legal definition of transit.The authorities resumed the transfers of However, it failed to address the control ofasylum-seekers to Greece under the Dublin the end-use of parts and components thatIII Regulation – EU law that determines the could be used to produce arms.EU member state responsible for examiningan application for asylum. BENIN In November, laws were adopted widening Republic of Beninthe scope for detention of asylum-seekers Head of state and government: Patrice Athanaseand curtailing the right to appeal negative Guillaume Talonasylum decisions. The authorities continued to restrict the In September, the government invited a rights to freedom of expression anddelegation of Sudanese government officials peaceful assembly. Fourteen prisonersto identify dozens of undocumented remained on death row although the deathSudanese nationals with the intention of penalty had been abolished. Civil societyreturning them to Sudan. Several judicial groups’ access to prisons was restricted.proceedings were started challenging forciblereturns on the basis of the principle of non-refoulement – the forcible return ofindividuals to countries where they riskserious human rights violations. TenSudanese nationals were reportedly returned92 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

Benin joined the AU campaign to end child as many detainees as its intended capacity,marriage. and Kandi Civil Prison held twice as many. Around 4,500 of the country’s 7,179BACKGROUND detainees awaited trial.In April, the National Assembly rejected a In April, the Ministry of Justice issued anpresidential bill which aimed to amend the order restricting the access of NGOs,Constitution. It contained provisions which religious and civil society groups to detentionlimited the President’s tenure to one six-year centres. Authorization for group visits wasnon-renewable term and provided immunity issued for periods of three months.from police custody or pre-trial detention for Authorization could not be renewed withoutthe President and members of the groups presenting a report of their activitiesgovernment. for sign-off by the prison director who could make observations for the Minister of In November, Benin’s human rights record Justice’s attention, or even refuse to sign thewas examined under the UN UPR process. report.The government accepted 191recommendations and made note of seven DEATH PENALTYothers including calls to strengthen efforts toprevent the use of arbitrary detention, The government failed to adopt laws toextrajudicial executions and the excessive remove the death penalty from legislationuse of force by security forces; and to ensure despite its abolition by the Constitutionalthat all national legislation complied with Court in 2016. However, it accepted ainternational standards on the rights to recommendation made under the UN UPRfreedom of expression and media freedom, process to commute all death sentences andand to take steps to prevent the arbitrary expedite the adoption of provisions under thesuspension of media outlets. new Criminal Code to abolish the death penalty. Fourteen prisoners remained onFREEDOMS OF EXPRESSION AND death row at the end of the year. TheirASSEMBLY detention conditions improved slightly during the year when restrictions on outdoorIn January, Radio Soleil FM, E-Tele and Eden activities were relaxed.1TV reopened. They were three of the sevenmedia outlets which the High Authority of CHILDREN’S RIGHTSAudiovisual Communication (HAAC) closedin November 2016. Four other outlets which In June, Benin became the 20th country tobroadcast from abroad – Sikka TV, la join the AU Campaign to End Child Marriage.Chrétienne TV, Unafrica TV and La Béninoise The campaign’s objectives included– remained closed. In May, the Court of First educating communities about the negativeInstance in Cotonou fined HAAC President effects of child marriage. Despite legislation50 million CFA francs (around USD89,648) prohibiting marriage before the age of 18,for closing Sikka TV. 32% of girls continued to marry under 18 years, and 9% married before the age of 15. On 17 February police used tear gas to In November, the government accepted adisperse hundreds of University of Abomey- recommendation under the UN UPR processCalavi students. They had gathered at a hotel to fast-track the implementation of legislationin Abomey-Calavi, a suburb of Cotonou, for a which would address harmful practicesgeneral assembly and press conference, and against children, including in relation toto peacefully protest against the October forced early and child marriages.2016 ban on all student union activities.DETENTION 1. Living in limbo: Benin’s last death row prisoners (ACT 50/4980/2017)Prisons remained overcrowded; Abomey CivilPrison in the de Zou district held three timesAmnesty International Report 2017/18 93

BOLIVIA INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ RIGHTS In August, the President promulgated LawPlurinational State of Bolivia 969, allowing the construction of a road thatHead of state and government: President Evo Morales will cut across the Isiboro Sécure NationalAyma Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), one of the country’s main water reserves andA Truth Commission was created to home to approximately 14,000 people,investigate serious human rights violations mainly from Indigenous communities. Thiscommitted under military governments Law repealed legislation under which the(1964-1982). Progress was made in TIPNIS was a protected area, raisingprotecting the rights of transgender people. concerns about possible development ofConcerns remained regarding threats other infrastructure and extractive projects inagainst and harassment of human rights the area.organizations, and Indigenous Peoples’rights. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEBACKGROUND In June, the Supreme Electoral TribunalIn November, the Constitutional Court ruled granted civil marriage rights to people whoto lift the limits on candidates standing in had legally changed their gender.presidential re-elections thereby allowing Nevertheless, same-sex marriage remainedPresident Morales to stand for a fourth officially unrecognized. In the same month,consecutive term in 2019. the Ombudsman proposed an amendment to the Criminal Code to make hate crimes The country office of the UN High against LGBTI people a criminal offence. InCommissioner for Human Rights closed the past decade, the authorities had failed todown on 31 December after the government hold perpetrators accountable for the killingsdecided not to renew its mandate. of LGBTI people.IMPUNITY SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTSIn August, a Truth Commission was Unsafe abortions continued to be one of theestablished to investigate serious human main causes of maternal mortality.rights violations committed under the militarygovernments between 1964 and1982. It is HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSdue to submit a report in two years. Thearmed forces created a working group On 6 February, leaders of the Federation ofcomposed of military officers to provide Bolivian Mineworkers took over thesupport for the Commission, including by Permanent Human Rights Assembly forgranting access to their archives. several hours in the capital, La Paz, and demanded the removal of its president.PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Meanwhile, human rights organizations and Indigenous leaders held a press conferenceIn August, the Plurinational Legislative at the Assembly, where they announced thatAssembly passed a law to facilitate the the Inter-American Commission on Humaninclusion in the labour market of people with Rights had asked the government to providedisabilities and the provision of financial information on their request for precautionaryassistance for people with severe disabilities. measures. The organizations had submittedFor years, disability rights activists have the request on behalf of Indigenous Peoplescalled for a monthly disability allowance in voluntary isolation whose survival theywhich has yet to be granted. alleged would be at risk due to proposed oil extraction in their territories.94 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

In March, the Bolivian Documentation and after the Council of Ministers removed aInformation Centre (CEDIB), an NGO based portion of its funding for the secondat the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, a consecutive year.public university in Cochabamba, reportedthat the Dean of the university had harassed Police failures to thoroughly investigate actsthem and threatened them with eviction. of violence and discrimination against LGBTIDespite the CEDIB director’s request that people continued. No indictments weresafety guarantees be provided to his staff and issued against those suspected of criminalarchives, he received no response from the responsibility for the 2014 attack on theauthorities. In November, CEDIB reported organizers of the Merlinka Queer Filmthat its bank accounts were frozen as a result Festival, or the 2016 incident in Sarajevo, theof a judicial administrative procedure which capital, in which a group of young menhad been filed by the Dean. harassed and physically threatened visitors of a café and cinema popular with the LGBTIBOSNIA AND community. In May, a planned publicHERZEGOVINA gathering to mark the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia couldBosnia and Herzegovina not take place as Sarajevo Canton Ministry ofHead of state: Rotating presidency – Bakir Izetbegović, Traffic failed to provide the necessary permitsDragan Čović, Mladen Ivanić in time, although it received a formalHead of government: Denis Zvizdić application in advance.Minorities continued to face widespread People with disabilities, in particular womendiscrimination. Threats and attacks against and children, continued to face systemicjournalists and media freedom persisted. social exclusion, including severely limitedAccess to justice and reparations for civilian access to health services and mainstreamvictims of war remained limited. education. According to legislation, people with disabilities whose impairment was not aDISCRIMINATION consequence of war were treated differently and received lower allowances and socialSocial exclusion and discrimination – in benefits than war veterans and civilianparticular of Roma; lesbian, gay, bisexual, victims of war.transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people;and of people with disabilities – remained The 2009 judgment of the European Courtwidespread, despite the adoption of a of Human Rights in Sejdić-Finci v. Bosniaprogressive Law on Prevention of and Herzegovina which found the power-Discrimination in 2016. sharing arrangements set out in the Constitution to be discriminatory, remained Efforts continued to reduce the number of unimplemented. Under the arrangements,Roma without identity documents and to citizens who would not declare themselves asincrease the number of Roma children belonging to one of the three mainenrolled in primary schools. However, Roma constituent peoples of the country (Bosniaks,continued to face systemic barriers to Croats and Serbs) were still excluded fromeducation, housing, health services and running for legislative and executive office.employment. In July, the Council of Ministersadopted a new three-year Action Plan for FREEDOM OF EXPRESSIONRoma Integration specifically aimed atimproving employment opportunities and The pattern of threats, political pressure andeasing access to housing and health services. attacks against journalists continued. In JulyThe Plan’s implementation was hampered and August, Dragan Bursać, a journalist with Al Jazeera Balkans, received a series of death threats after publishing a piece in which he condemned public gatherings in Banja Luka city in support of a charged warAmnesty International Report 2017/18 95

criminal. Local journalist associations year. The Law would guarantee a specific setdocumented nearly 40 cases of direct of rights and entitlement for victims of war onpressure, verbal threats and physical attacks the whole territory of Bosnia andagainst journalists by the end of the year. Herzegovina.CRIMES UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW Criminal courts continued the recent practice of granting financial compensation toIn November, the International Criminal victims of wartime rape, bringing the numberTribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of final judgments awarding financialissued the first-instance verdict in the case of reparation for war crimes in criminalformer Bosnian Serb leader, General Ratko proceedings to four. However, theMladić. The ICTY found him guilty of compensations had not been paid by the endgenocide, war crimes, and crimes against of the year. The convicted perpetratorshumanity committed during the 1992-1995 lacked funds and there was no alternativeconflict and sentenced him to life mechanism to compensate survivors ofimprisonment. criminal acts in cases where convicted perpetrators were not able to pay damages. Also in November, the ICTY confirmedearlier sentences against six former Bosnian Most victims continued to be required toCroat political and military leaders. This was pursue compensation claims in separate civilthe final verdict passed by the tribunal prior proceedings, where they had to reveal theirto permanently shutting down in December, identity and incur additional costs. The 2016after 23 years of operation. Constitutional Court ruling that the statute of limitations applied to reparation claims The domestic prosecution of war crimes directed against the perpetrators and not theremained slow, with a backlog of several state – even in war crimes cases – resulted inhundred cases pending before various courts widespread dismissal of claims in 2017,at the end of the year. Despite recent further limiting victims’ ability to claimprogress, the prosecutions continued to compensation and leaving them liable forsuffer from lack of capacity and resources, high court fees.ineffective case-management and persistentpolitical obstruction. A revision of the 2008 Although over 75% of missing persons fromNational War Crimes Strategy to address key the war had been exhumed and identified,institutional deficiencies and to establish new there were still 8,000 people missing indeadlines for the completion of cases was connection with the conflict. The process ofunder way at the end of the year. exhumations continued to encounter significant challenges, including reduced Some progress was made in harmonizing funding and limited expertise. The Law onentity laws regulating the rights of civilian Missing Persons remained unimplemented,victims of war, including victims of wartime with the Fund for Families of the Missing stillsexual violence. However, public aid for awaiting dedicated resources.victims of wartime sexual violence remainedfragmented and dependent on residency; BOTSWANAvictims residing in Republika Srpska (RS)were excluded from the system of social Republic of Botswanabenefits for civilian victims of war. The Draft Head of state and government: Seretse Khama IanLaw on Protection of Victims of Wartime KhamaTorture in RS, intended to recognize victims’rights, was adopted by the government in The right to freedom of expressionDecember, but it included provisions which continued to be restricted. Asylum-seekerscould potentially discriminate against non- whose asylum claims were rejectedSerb victims. There was no progress in the continued to face detention. A landmarkadoption of the Law on Protection of Victimsof Torture at the state level by the end of the96 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

ruling in the Lobatse High Court upheld the determination procedures and asylum-rights of transgender people. Two men were seekers – with both pending and deniedsentenced to death. applications – continued to be detained in the Francistown Centre for Illegal Immigrants.FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION The duration of detention averaged between six months and five years, far beyond theJournalists continued to be intimidated and detention period stipulated in the Refugeeharassed by the authorities. On 8 March, Act.three journalists from the INK Centre forInvestigative Journalism were briefly detained On 13 April, the High Court ordered theand threatened by plain-clothes security release of two Somali asylum-seekers fromagents in the village of Mosu. The journalists the Francistown Centre for Illegal Immigrants.had tried to access the area where the new They had been detained in the Centre sincehome of President Khama was allegedly being denied refugee status in October 2015,being constructed amid allegations of having arrived separately in Botswana incorruption. The security agents told them that June 2014. On 15 April, following theirthe building site was a “restricted area” and release, they were taken into custody at thethat they would be shot on sight if they tried Tlokweng police station after attempting toto return. enter the Dukwe Refugee Camp, Botswana’s only refugee camp. On 25 April, President On 19 April, the Court of Appeal upheld an Khama declared them to be prohibitedearlier decision by the High Court and turned immigrants; they were subsequently detaineddown the application of a teacher who had at the first offenders prison in Gaborone, thechallenged his dismissal from employment capital, and have allegedly since beenon the grounds that it violated his deported.constitutional right to freedom of expression.The teacher was dismissed after he On 23 November, the Court of Appeal setpublished an opinion piece in a newspaper in aside the High Court ruling that the detentionMay 2011 on the country’s political situation, of 165 asylum-seekers and their relatives wasfollowing a national strike by public sector illegal. As a result, the asylum-seekers soughtemployees. In February 2012, a disciplinary refuge in Zimbabwe, Namibia and Southhearing had found the teacher guilty of Africa. Members of the group had arrived incontravening section 34(a) of the Public Botswana between January 2014 andService Act. October 2016 and, after their asylum applications were denied, they had remained Outsa Mokone, editor of the Sunday in detention in the Francistown Centre forStandard, continued to face a criminal Illegal Immigrants. The Attorney Generalsedition charge following his arrest in 2014 made an appeal on 4 August.after publishing articles alleging PresidentKhama’s involvement in a road accident. In RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,December 2016, he was released on bail and TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLEasked to appear at the magistrate’s courtevery two months and to seek permission In a landmark decision on 29 September, thebefore leaving the country. His legal case Lobatse High Court ruled that thechallenging the constitutionality of the government’s refusal to change the gendersedition law was still pending at the end of marker in the identity document of athe year. transgender man was unreasonable and in violation of his rights, including the right toREFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS dignity, freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination, and ordered theBotswana’s restrictive encampment policy government to change the gender marker.continued, denying refugees freedom ofmovement, work and local integration. On 12 December, the Gaborone High CourtAsylum-seekers faced lengthy refugee status ruled in favour of Tshepo Ricki Kgositau, aAmnesty International Report 2017/18 97

transgender woman who successfully retrogressive measures, proposals werechallenged the government’s refusal to introduced to reduce the age at whichchange her gender from male to female in children can be tried as adults to below 18;her identity document as unconstitutional. change or revoke the Disarmament Bill,Tshepo Ricki Kgositau had unsuccessfully facilitating licensing and purchasing ofapplied to the Civil and National Registration firearms; restrict the right to peacefulOffice in Gaborone to change her gender assembly and to criminalize social protests;identity. The Office advised her to seek a impose a full ban on abortion, violating thecourt order after denying her application. sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls; change the land demarcation processINTERNATIONAL JUSTICE and requirements for free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples and Afro-On 17 July, Parliament passed a bill which descendant communities; and reduce theincorporated the Rome Statute of the protection of labour rights and access toInternational Criminal Court into domestic social security.law, including the offences of genocide,crimes against humanity and war crimes. Law 13.491/2017, signed by PresidentThis followed Botswana’s ratification of the Temer on 13 October, provided that humanRome Statute in 2000. rights violations, including murder or attempted murder, committed by militaryDEATH PENALTY personnel against civilians would be tried by military courts.1 The Law violated the right toTshiamo Kgalalelo and Mmika Mpe were a fair trial, as military courts in Brazil did notsentenced to death on 13 December; they guarantee judicial independence.were convicted of murder and other charges,including theft and abduction, in the Lobatse Despite these setbacks, in May a newHigh Court in May. migration law (Law 13.445/2017) came into effect, representing improvements toBRAZIL migrants’ rights.Federative Republic of Brazil INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINYHead of state and government: Michel Temer Brazil’s human rights record was examinedA number of proposals which threatened for the third time under the UNhuman rights and represented huge UPR process.2 Brazil received 246setbacks to existing law and policy made recommendations, including on Indigenoustheir way through the legislative process. Peoples’ rights to land; killings by the police;Violence and killings increased, mostly torture and degrading conditions in prisons;affecting young black males. Conflicts over and protection of human rights defenders.land and natural resources resulted in Brazil accepted all but fourdozens of killings. Human rights defenders recommendations; however, there remainedwere not effectively protected. Police concerns about their implementation in theresponded to most protests with context of the retrogressive laws and policiesunnecessary and excessive force. adopted during the year.LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONAL OR In May the Inter-American Court of HumanINSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS Rights issued a ruling against Brazil for its failure to grant justice for the killing by policeUp to 200 different proposals for of 26 people in Favela Nova Brasília, inconstitutional amendments, new laws and Complexo do Alemão, city of Rio de Janeiro,changes to existing legislation threatened a in October 1994 and May 1995.range of human rights. Among other98 Amnesty International Report 2017/18

POLICE AND SECURITY FORCES methodologies; however, official numbers indicated that such killings increased acrossThe deployment of the armed forces for Brazil. Official figures showed that on-dutypolicing and law and order increased. police officers killed 494 people in São Paulo state between January and September and, The authorities failed to adopt measures to between January and November, 1,035 inreduce the homicide rate, which remained Rio de Janeiro state and 148 in Ceará state.high for young black males. The number ofhomicides increased in major cities, On 13 February, four people were killed andespecially in the northeast. National data others injured by military police during acompiled and published during the year by police intervention in the favela of Chapadão,the Brazilian Public Security Forum revealed Rio de Janeiro city.that 61,619 people were killed during 2016,of which 4,657 were women. Public security In February, a 21-day strike by the militarypolicies continued to rely on highly militarized police in Espírito Santo state resulted inpolice interventions, motivated mainly by the chaos. Armed forces and national securityso-called “war on drugs”. forces were called in to police the state. In January the Ministry of Justice On 12 July, a homeless man was killed by aannounced a Public Security National Plan military police officer in the neighbourhood ofwhich was to focus on reducing homicides, Pinheiros, city of São Paulo.tackling drug trafficking and conducting areview of the prison system. A detailed and In August, at least seven people were killedcomprehensive plan was never presented or by the police during police interventions thatimplemented and the public security continued for several days in the favelasituation deteriorated during the year. Jacarezinho, Rio de Janeiro city. Residents reported that police officers were violent and Instances of “multiple homicides” (single committed a number of abuses, such asevents with more than three victims) and assaults, unlawful raids on homes, and“chacinas” (multiple killings characteristic of unlawful killings. The police interventionsexecutions) increased in several cities; the may have been in retaliation for a policeauthorities often failed to properly investigate. officer being killed in the area.On 5 January, eight men were killed by agroup of armed men in Porto Seguro, Bahia On 3 September, 10 men were killed by civilstate. On 3 June, six men were killed inside a police officers during a police interventionhouse by armed hooded men in Porto das attempting to prevent an armed robbery inDunas in Fortaleza, Ceará state. On 6 June, the neighbourhood of Morumbi, São Paulofour men and a woman were killed and nine city.other people were injured by a group of 10hooded gunmen in a bar in Belem, Pará Early in the year, military police from thestate. On 22 September, six young men aged Pacification Police Unit raided several housesbetween 16 and 23 were killed in Grande in the favela Complexo do Alemão, Rio deNatal, Rio Grande do Norte state. In Bom Janeiro city. These unlawful actions by policeJardim neighbourhood in Fortaleza, Ceará continued even after a court ruled that thestate, five people were killed and three others police should leave the area. Thoseinjured on 20 February, and four young denouncing the police violations weremales aged between 14 and 20 were killed threatened and intimidated. After months ofinside a house on 8 October. In most cases, mobilization, the Public Prosecutor’s Officethe perpetrators were unidentified. brought charges against two police officers who were in command of the operation and Police interventions in favelas and responsible for the area.marginalized areas often resulted in intensiveshoot-outs and deaths. Data about people On 11 November, seven men were killedkilled by the police remained inaccurate as during a joint security operation of the Civilstates kept poor records using different Police and the Army in São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro state. Civilian authorities said they had no competence to investigate the killingsAmnesty International Report 2017/18 99

after a new law expanded the jurisdiction of FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLYmilitary courts to try crimes committed bymilitary personnel. The military denied using On 31 March, thousands of people protestedfirearms, and did not announce whether it in major cities against proposed reforms tohad opened an investigation into the killings. labour laws and social security policies. On 28 April, social movements, students andDETENTION trade unions called for a “general strike” and tens of thousands of people protestedThe prison system remained overcrowded throughout the country after the labourand prisoners suffered inhuman and reforms were approved. In many areas,degrading conditions. The prison population including Rio de Janeiro city, the police usedreached 727,000 people, 55% of whom were unnecessary and excessive force againstaged between 18 and 29 and 64% of whom peaceful protesters.were Afro-descendant, according to theMinistry of Justice. A significant proportion – On 24 May at least 49 people were injured,40% nationally – of those imprisoned were in including eight military police officers andpre-trial detention, where detainees often one man who was shot with a firearm, afterwaited several months to face trial. police used excessive force against protesters in the capital, Brasilia. Tens of thousands of In January, riots took place in prisons in people protested against President Temer inseveral states resulting in at least 123 deaths: a demonstration that ended in clashes with64 in Amazonas state; 31 in Roraima; 26 in the police and damage to public buildings.Rio Grande do Norte; and two in Paraíba.3 The federal government called in the military to police the area in the following days. In May, 32 people escaped from Pedrinhasprison in Maranhão state; two escapees were HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERSkilled by prison guards. Human rights defenders, especially those in As a result of extreme overcrowding in rural areas, continued to be threatened,prisons in Rio Grande do Sul state, some attacked and killed. The states of Pará andpeople detained by police were held for more Maranhão were among those wherethan 48 hours in unsuitable areas in police defenders were at the highest risk. Accordingstations and cars, while waiting for space in to the civil society coalition Brazilianthe prison system. Committee for Human Rights Defenders, 62 defenders were killed between January and In October, a man died after being detained September, an increase from the previousfor a day and a night in an outdoor cage-like year. Most were killed in conflicts over landcell in a police station in Barra do Corda, and natural resources. Budget cuts and lackMaranhão state. The cell had no protection of political will to prioritize the protection offrom the sun or extremely high temperatures, human rights defenders resulted in theleaving detainees at risk of dehydration and dismantling of the National Programme ofother dangerous consequences of exposure. Protection, leaving hundreds exposed to a higher risk of attacks. In Rio de Janeiro state, inhumane prisonconditions were further degraded by the LAND DISPUTESfinancial crisis, putting at risk the supply offood, water and medicines for more than On 20 April at least nine men were killed and50,800 prisoners. Tuberculosis and skin others injured in Colniza, Mato Grosso state,diseases reached epidemic levels inside the after gunmen attacked rural workers in thestate’s prisons. settlement of Taquaruçu do Norte. The decade-long trend of frequent, violent attacks The 25th anniversary of the Carandiru by gunmen hired by large-scale farmers andmassacre, in which 111 people were killed by illegal loggers in the area continued.the police in Carandiru prison, São Paulo,was on 2 October. Those responsible for themassacre had yet to be held accountable.100 Amnesty International Report 2017/18